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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d6246f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #52009 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52009) diff --git a/old/52009-h.zip b/old/52009-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c8daf60..0000000 --- a/old/52009-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/52009-h/52009-h.htm b/old/52009-h/52009-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index ee5c43f..0000000 --- a/old/52009-h/52009-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1877 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of New Lamps, by Robert Moore Williams. - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1, .ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: xx-large; margin: .67em auto; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of New Lamps, by Robert Moore Williams - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: New Lamps - -Author: Robert Moore Williams - -Release Date: May 6, 2016 [EBook #52009] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW LAMPS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="359" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>NEW LAMPS</h1> - -<p>By Robert Moore Williams</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Other Worlds May 1957.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>Ronson came to the Red Planet on the strangest mission of all ... he -only knew he wanted to see Les Ro, but he didn't know exactly why. It -was because he knew that Les Ro had the answer to something that had -never been answered before, if indeed, it had ever been asked! For Les -Ro traded new lamps for old—and they were the lamps of life itself!</p></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>On Mars, the dust is yellow, and microscopically fine. With the result -that it penetrates to the sensitive lung tissues of a human being, -causing distress. Crossing the street toward the dive set into the -towering wall of the cliff overhead, Jim Ronson sneezed violently. -He wished fervidly that he might get another glimpse of what Robert -Heinlein, two centuries before, had nostalgically called <b>The Cool -Green Hills of Earth</b>, and again smell air that had no dust in it. -Deep inside of him a small voice whispered that he would be very lucky -if he ever saw the green hills of Earth again.</p> - -<p>Somewhere ahead of him, in the granite core of the mountain, was -something that no human had ever seen. Rumors of what was here had -reached Jim Ronson. They had been sufficiently exciting to lift him -out of an Earth laboratory and to bring him on a space ship to Mars, -feverishly sleep-learning the Martian language as he made the hop, to -investigate what might be here in this granite mountain near the south -pole of the Red Planet. Some Martians knew what was here. In Mars Port, -Ronson had talked to one who obviously knew. But the Martian either -could not or would not tell what he knew.</p> - -<p>Across the street, squatting against the wall, were a dozen Martians. -One was segregated from the rest. They watched the human get out of -the <b>dothar</b> drawn cart that had brought him from the jet taxi -that had landed on the sand outside this village, pay his fare, and -come toward them. Taking a half-hitch around his courage, Ronson moved -past them. He glanced down at the one sitting apart from the rest, then -averted his eyes, unease and discomfort rising in him. The Martian was -a leper. Ronson forced himself to look again. The sores were clearly -visible, the eyes were dull and apathetic, without hope. As if some of -the leper's hopelessness were communicated to him, Ronson felt a touch -of despair. In this place, if the rumors were true, how could there -be a leper? How—He paused as one of the Martians squatting on the -sidewalk rose to bar his way.</p> - -<p>On the Red Planet, humans were strictly on their own. If they got -themselves into trouble, no consular agent was available to help them. -If they got killed, no representative of Earth law came to ask why -or to bring the killers to human justice. No amount of argument or -persuasion on the part of delegates from Earth had ever produced a -treaty guaranteeing the lives or even the safety of humans who went -beyond the limits of Mars Port. The Martians simply could not see any -reason for protecting these strange creatures who had come uninvited -across space. Let humans look out for themselves!</p> - -<p>The Martian who rose in front of Ronson was big and looked mean. Four -knives hung from the belt circling his waist. Ronson did not doubt that -the fellow could stab very expertly with the knives or that he could -throw them with the accuracy of a bullet within a range of thirty feet. -In the side pocket of the heavy <b>dothar</b>-skin coat that he wore, -Ronson had a <b>zen</b> gun which he had purchased before leaving Mars -Port. The little weapon threw an explosive bullet guaranteed to change -forever the mind of any human or any Martian who got in the way of it. -Ronson did not doubt that he could draw and fire the gun before the -Martian could use one of the knives but he also knew that he did not -want to start a fight here in the street. What was inside the mountain -was too important to risk.</p> - -<p>"Happy wind time," Ronson said. This greeting was good manners anywhere -on Mars. He bowed to the Martian. As he bowed, the fellow snatched his -hat, held it aloft as a trophy.</p> - -<p>Laughter echoed through the watching Martians. Only the leper was -unmoved. The Martian put the hat on his own head, where it sank down -over his ears. He wiggled his scalp and the hat danced. The laughter -grew stronger.</p> - -<p>Ronson kept his temper. "I'll take my hat back," he said, politely.</p> - -<p>"Ho!" the Martian said. "Try and get it."</p> - -<p>"I want my hat back," Ronson said, a little less politely. Inside, he -was coming to a boil. Like a stupid child, this Martian was playing -a silly game. To them, this was fun. To the human, it was not fun. A -wrong move on his part, or even no move, and they might be on him like -wolves, endangering the purpose that had brought him here. Or had Les -Ro, catching wind somehow of his visit, set these stupid creatures -across his path? At the thought, the anger rising inside of him became -a feeling of cold.</p> - -<p>"I want—"</p> - -<p>Another squatting Martian rose. "I'll take his coat," the second one -announced.</p> - -<p>A third was rising. "Me for his breeks!"</p> - -<p>They were going to disrobe him, strip him naked, for the sake of his -clothes. Ronson did not in the least doubt that they would do it, -or try to do it. The only law protecting humans on this planet was -what they could make up as individuals and enforce for themselves. He -reached for the gun in the side pocket of the <b>dothar</b> skin coat.</p> - -<p>The Martian who had taken his hat reached out and grabbed his arm. The -fellow had steel claws for hands instead of flesh and blood. The claws -clamped over Ronson's arm with a paralyzing grip that seemed to squeeze -the very nerves in their sheaths.</p> - -<p>Ronson slugged with his left fist, very hard and very fast, a blow that -landed flush on the jaw of the Martian. The fellow blinked but was -not damaged. He grinned. "Ho! Human wants to fight!" He seemed to find -satisfaction in the idea. He reached out with his other hand, grasping -for Ronson's neck this time.</p> - -<p>Ronson had not been in a rough and tumble fight since he was a kid -but he discovered that he had not forgotten how to bring up his knee -and jab his antagonist in the stomach. Only this time it didn't work. -The Martian brought down an elbow and deflected the rising leg. His -groping fingers found Ronson's neck, closed there with a grip that was -as tight as the grip around the human's right arm. The other Martians -drew closer. As soon as Te Hold had subdued this alien, they intended -to have his clothes right down to the skin. Maybe they would take the -skin too, if they could find any value in it. They were so engrossed in -watching Te Hold tame this human that they did not notice the door of -the joint open behind them. Nor did they see the girl come out.</p> - -<p>She was not in the least surprised at the fight in the street, nor -was she in any doubt as to what to do about it. In her hand, she had -a spring gun, one of those little weapons that are spring powered and -which throw steel needles coated with the extremely powerful synthetic -narcotic, thormoline. Hardly seeming to take aim, she shot the Martian -who was holding Ronson in the back. Te Hold jumped as the needle stung -him but he did not let go of Ronson. The spring gun pinged again as the -girl put another needle in his back.</p> - -<p>Te Hold jumped again. He released his grip on Ronson's throat. The -human gulped air, and slugged Te Hold again, harder this time. The -fast-acting narcotic was already taking effect. Te Hold went over like -a falling tree.</p> - -<p>Jim Ronson snatched the zen gun from his pocket, then saw that he did -not need it. The girl had been busy with the needle weapon. Two of the -Martians were also down and the rest were in full flight, except the -leper, who had not moved. Standing in front of the door, the girl was -calmly shooting needles at their legs as they ran.</p> - -<p>Not until then did Ronson really see the girl. He blinked startled -eyes at her. Human women were rare on Mars, here in this place near -the south pole they should not exist at all. No woman in her right -mind would come here. But one was here, and a darned attractive one at -that. She was tall, lithe, and full breasted. The hair peeping out from -under the tight fitting-helmet was a shade of red. If she had a fault -in her figure, it was the fact that her hips were too narrow—she was -as slender as a boy—but Ronson was not inclined to criticize her for -that. Not when she had just saved his clothes and maybe his life.</p> - -<p>As the last Martian dodged around the corner, she turned her attention -to him. A smile lit her face.</p> - -<p>"Dr. Ronson! A privilege to meet you, sir." Hand outstretched, smiling, -she moved around the victims of her needle gun and came toward him.</p> - -<p>Ronson stared at her in bewildered consternation. He had not thought -that anyone on Mars would even know his name, he had not wanted -anyone to know his identity. Especially not in this place. He barely -remembered his manners in time to take the hand offered him.</p> - -<p>"I'm Jennie Ware," the girl said.</p> - -<p>"It's nice to meet you, Miss Ware." Where had he heard or seen this -name before? "I want—ah—to thank you for helping me out of a spot."</p> - -<p>"It was nothing," she said smiling. "Always glad to help my fellow men."</p> - -<p>"You certainly went into action fast." He glanced at Te Hold, sleeping -in the street. On the sidewalk near the corner, another Martian was -taking a nap. Only the leper was still in sight and awake.</p> - -<p>"I had these needles coated with a special narcotic designed to affect -the Martian nervous system. As to my going into action fast, I've -discovered that you have to be firm with these Martians," she answered -smiling.</p> - -<p>Stooping, he retrieved his hat. "How did you know me?"</p> - -<p>A little flicker of amusement showed in her eyes. "Why shouldn't I -recognize Earth's foremost bio-physicist and leading authority on -cellular structure? Come on in. I'll buy you a drink. You'll love this -place. They've even got a waiter who thinks he can speak English."</p> - -<p>"Thanks," Ronson said. "I'll take you up on that." He was astonished -and bewildered by this woman. He had spent most of his life in -the laboratories of Earth. The women who had been there had been -flat-breasted, pale creatures in low-heeled shoes who had called him -"Sir," and "Doctor," and who had obviously been greatly in awe of -him but who had apparently never had a red-blooded thought in their -lives. He had regarded them as a sort of neuter sex, creatures who had -obviously been intended by nature to be female but who had gotten their -hormones mixed up somewhere along the line. This girl was different.</p> - -<p>Her name, somehow, had a haunting familiarity, as if he had heard it -somewhere before. But he couldn't remember where.</p> - -<p>She went through the door ahead of him. As Ronson passed through, a -Martian thrust his head around the corner outside and threw a knife. -The steel blade buried in the door facing within six inches of the -human's head. He hastily ducked through the door.</p> - -<p>Looking annoyed, the girl started back to the street outside. "I'll fix -him," she said, pulling the needle gun.</p> - -<p>Ronson caught her shoulder. "Let well enough alone," he said firmly. -"Anyhow you were going to buy me a drink."</p> - -<p>Her eyes held a curious mixture of annoyance, defiance, and longing. -Her gaze went down to his hand on her shoulder. Ronson grinned at her. -"You look as if you are about to bite me," he said. "Go ahead, if you -want to." He did not move his hand.</p> - -<p>Wonder came into her face. "A great many men have tried to paw me, -without getting very far. But somehow, I don't think you're trying to -do that."</p> - -<p>"About that drink?" Ronson said.</p> - -<p>"Sure." She moved toward a table set against the far wall.</p> - -<p>Ronson dared to breathe again. Whatever else this girl was, she was -certainly full of fight and fury. She could have gone out into the -street, in the face of thrown knives, if he hadn't stopped her. As she -moved toward the table, he had a chance to look at the place in which -he found himself.</p> - -<p>What he saw was not reassuring. Except for a big circle in the center -of the room, the place was crammed with Martian males of all sizes and -descriptions. Waiters scurried through the crowd. The circle on the -floor was outlined in red. No customer and no Martian ventured within -it. Ronson glanced at it, asked the girl a question.</p> - -<p>"I just got here too," she said. "I haven't had time to find out about -it. Some superstition of theirs, I think." She led him to the table. -Two glasses were already on it. A waiter appeared out of nowhere. "This -is the one who speaks English. Talk to the gentleman, Tocko."</p> - -<p>"Oh, yessen, missen. Me talken ze English and but very gooden. Me -learnen ze human talken at Mars Porten. Don't I talk him gooden?" The -last was directed at Ronson.</p> - -<p>"You speak him very wonderfullen," Ronson answered. The waiter beamed.</p> - -<p>"Bring the gentleman a mariwaukee," the girl said.</p> - -<p>"Oh, yessen, missen."</p> - -<p>"On second thought, make it a double shot," the girl said. "The -gentleman looks like he needs it." She nodded brightly to Ronson as if -she had selected the very medicine he needed. "Now tell me what you are -doing on Mars, Dr. Ronson?"</p> - -<p>Ronson glanced hastily at the waiter, to make certain that he was out -of earshot. "I—I came here on a vacation," he said firmly and loudly. -"I've wanted to see Mars ever since I was a kid. Who—ah—was sitting -here with you before I came?"</p> - -<p>"A man," she answered. "He went to the little boy's room just before -you got into trouble in the street. I guess he's still there, if some -Martian hasn't slit his throat. Are you enjoying your vacation?"</p> - -<p>"Of course."</p> - -<p>"Do you mind if I call you Jim?" She smiled at him.</p> - -<p>"I would be very pleased."</p> - -<p>"Good. You can call me Jennie."</p> - -<p>"Thanks."</p> - -<p>"Then you are enjoying your vacation." Her smile was very sweet. "Are -you also enjoying trying to lie to me—Jim?"</p> - -<p>Ronson caught his start of surprise. Jennie Ware bewildered him but -this was a game that two could play. "Of course I'm enjoying it. Lying -to a woman as beautiful as you are is always a pleasure—Jennie." He -grinned at her and watched the anger come up on her face. Why should -she be angry?</p> - -<p>The anger was gone as swiftly as it had come. She leaned across the -table, put her hand on his. "I like you Jim. I really do. And not -because you called me a beautiful woman but because you kicked me in -the teeth with my own act. I had it coming and you gave it to me very -neatly."</p> - -<p>The touch of her hand was very pleasant. "No hard feelings. -What—ah—are you doing here, Jennie?"</p> - -<p>She smiled sweetly at him. "I'm on a vacation too, Jim."</p> - -<p>"Touche!" The females in the laboratories back on earth had never -touched his hand or called him by his first name. He wondered about the -man with whom she had been drinking. Also he was very uneasy about her -real reason for being here. No woman with good sense would make the -rough rocket trip to Mars for a vacation; presuming she did come to -Mars, she would not willingly come to this place. But Jennie Ware was -here, an enigma wrapped up in a beautiful smile. He took his eyes off -her long enough to look around the place again.</p> - -<p>In Mars Port, he had seen the native dives, but Mars Port had nothing -like this. To the natives, this was a place of pleasure, filled with -sights, sounds, and smells that made them happy. Over against the -farther wall a tribal chieftan was absorbing <b>narseeth</b> through -the skin of his hands, thrusting them again and again into the sirupy, -smoky-colored mixture in the bowl in front of him. Every so often -he stopped, whereupon the Martian female with him carefully dried -his hands. After they were dry, he made fumbling passes at her. She -accepted the passes without resistance. Ronson stared at the sight.</p> - -<p>"Relax. You'll get used to it," Jennie Ware said.</p> - -<p>At another table a huge Martian was sitting. Two others were with him. -One sat facing the rear, the other faced the front. Ronson had the -impression of two alert dogs guarding their master. A little chill -passed through him at the thought.</p> - -<p>Odors were in the place, of sweat dried into <b>dothar</b> skin -garments, of stale drinks. Dim but distinct was the all-pervading -clinging, cloying odor of <b>tamil</b>, the Martian equivalent of musk. -Through an opening at the right, Ronson could see females lounging at -ease in what was apparently a reception room to a brothel.</p> - -<p>Unease came up in him again. How could this place be the way to Les Ro? -But the rumors he had picked up and carefully checked in Mars Port had -all been in agreement, if you wanted to see Les Ro, you came here. What -happened after that was obviously fate.</p> - -<p>Watching, Ronson saw that no Martian entered the circle on the floor.</p> - -<p>He nodded toward the Martian females. "What do you think of this?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, a girl has to live," she said, shrugging. "What do you think?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, a Martian has to have fun, I suppose." His shrug was as -indifferent as hers had been. For an instant, he thought she was going -to spit at him.</p> - -<p>The waiter arrived with the drink.</p> - -<p>"I have putten you on ze listen," he said, confidentially, to Ronson.</p> - -<p>"On the <b>listen</b>?"</p> - -<p>"He means <b>list</b>," Jennie Ware said.</p> - -<p>"What list?" Ronson asked.</p> - -<p>"On ze listen of zozen waiten to see ze great Les Ro," the waiter -answered.</p> - -<p>Inside of him, Ronson felt cold come up. Strictly on his own, he had to -decide how he was going to handle this. He made up his mind on impulse. -"Who the devil is Les Ro?"</p> - -<p>Across the table, Jennie Ware lifted startled eyes toward Ronson. The -waiter's face showed astonishment, then embarrassment, at the idea that -anyone existed who had not heard of Les Ro, Ronson thought. "You do not -knowen ze great Les Ro. He is ze greatest zinker, ze greatest doer, ze -greatest—"</p> - -<p>"Stinker?" Jennie Ware said. "That sounds about right."</p> - -<p>"You are maken ze kidden wiz me," the waiter said, indignation in his -voice. "You have hearden of ze great Les Ro. You came here to see him. -You musten haven. Everybody who comes here, comes to see him." The -waiter spoke with authority.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry," Ronson said. "If he is that important, I would like to -talk to him, of course. But do you mean all of these Martians are -waiting to see him?" A wave of his hand indicated the group in the room.</p> - -<p>The waiter, mollified, leered at Ronson. "Ze girls didn't. Ze girls -come here for anuzzer purpose." The leering gesture included Jennie -Ware in it. It said that obviously she had come here for the same -purpose. What other purpose was there?</p> - -<p>The girl gasped. Fire shot from her eyes. "I'll have you know—"</p> - -<p>"Shut up," Ronson said.</p> - -<p>Fire flashed at him. "Hasn't it occurred to you that you are in danger -of getting your pretty little throat slit if you talk out of turn -here?" Ronson whispered.</p> - -<p>"Even ze noffers outside are on ze listen," the waiter added.</p> - -<p>"What about me? Am I on it?" Jennie asked.</p> - -<p>The waiter showed great astonishment. "But of course not. You are a -female."</p> - -<p>"What difference does that make?" This time the fire really shot from -her eyes.</p> - -<p>"How long do you have to wait after you're on the listen?" Ronson -hastily asked.</p> - -<p>The waiter spread his hands and twisted his shoulders. "Who knows? -Some of ze noffers outside have been waiting since last wind time—"</p> - -<p>"Almost an Earth year," Ronson said, calculating rapidly. Once during -each circle of the sun the great winds blew across Mars. This was -the biggest natural event on the planet. Since it occurred with the -regularity of clock work, it served as the starting point for their -year.</p> - -<p>"Sometimes ze great Les Ro call you right away," the waiter said.</p> - -<p>"How will I know if I'm called?" Ronson said.</p> - -<p>A shudder passed over the waiter. "You vill know. Of a most certain, -you vill know. Ze Messenger vill call." The shudder came again. As if -he had already said too much, the waiter hurried away. Ronson turned -back to Jennie Ware. She was sparkling with fury.</p> - -<p>"If they think they're going to keep me from seeing Les Ro just because -I'm a woman—"</p> - -<p>"Why do you want to see him? He probably isn't pretty."</p> - -<p>"Because I want to write a book about him."</p> - -<p>"A book—" Ronson's memory suddenly came alive and he remembered where -he had seen her name before. He stared at her, startled and almost -aghast. Back on Earth, this woman was almost a legend. Every tabloid -and every Sunday supplement had carried her picture and stories about -her. The programs beamed to space had carried tales of her exploits. -She had explored the depths of the Venusian jungles, she had ridden -a <b>dothar</b> across half of Mars. When Deep Space Flight One had -blasted off from Pluto, bound for the exploration of deep space, -the news telecasts back to Earth had carried the information that a -stowaway had been discovered and ejected from the ship just before -blast off. No one had been surprised when this stowaway had turned -out to be Jennie Ware. Subsequent rumors had whispered that she had -practically torn Pluto Dome apart because she had been ejected from the -ship. Even the fact that the ship had never returned had not cooled her -anger.</p> - -<p>In addition, she was also a very competent author. Ronson had read two -of her books and had admired her deft touch with words and the deep -sincerity that had showed through in even the most hard-boiled and -raucous passages. Unquestionably Jennie Ware was a very unusual human -being.</p> - -<p>But in spite of this, Ronson stared at her in growing horror. Her -reputation across the solar system was that of an uninhibited vixen. -Here in this place, where their lives might ride on the blinking of -an eye-lash, or on not blinking it, a temper tantrum thrown by Jennie -Ware—or by anybody else—was the last thing he wanted to see.</p> - -<p>A tall figure loomed beside the table. A deep voice asked, laughingly, -"Well, Jim, since you've already met our lady authoress, how do you -like her?"</p> - -<p>Ronson looked up, then got up, his hand going out, a grin spurting to -his face. The man standing there, Sam Crick, took the outstretched hand -and grinned back at him.</p> - -<p>Crick was tall and lean. His skin was tanned a deep brown, a color that -had resulted from facing all the winds that had ever blown on Mars and -all the sun that had ever shown there. Crick was something of a legend -on the Red Planet. He was the eternal adventurer, the lonely wanderer -of the waste place, the type of human who was always looking for -something that lay just over the edge of the horizon.</p> - -<p>Jim Ronson and Sam Crick had grown up together as boys on Earth. Ronson -had gone into a laboratory, Crick had hopped a freighter bound for -Mars. Ronson had not seen his old friend in many years, but he had -heard from him and about him. A feeling of deep warmth came up inside -the scientist at the sight of the tanned face grinning at him.</p> - -<p>"Then you did get my space radio?" Ronson said. "I couldn't locate you -in Mars Port and I was never sure." Relief at finding Crick here was a -surging feeling deep within him. With Crick here, he not only had a man -experienced in Martian ways and customs to help him, but what was more -important, he had a friend.</p> - -<p>Crick's face lost its smile. Wrinkles showed on his forehead. "What -space radio, Jim?"</p> - -<p>"The one I sent you, asking you to meet me here. Quit kidding me. If -you didn't get my space radio, how does it happen that you're here? -Don't tell me this is a coincidence."</p> - -<p>Crick shook his head. A doleful expression appeared on his face. "I -sure didn't get it, Jim. As to what I'm doing here, I'm chaperoning our -lady authoress. Meet my boss." He nodded to Jennie Ware.</p> - -<p>Ronson turned startled eyes toward the girl.</p> - -<p>"I caught him flat broke in Mars Port just before you arrived," she -answered. "Since he was broke, I took advantage of him and hired him -as my bodyguard. Not that I would really need a bodyguard, but in case -I fell and broke a leg, he might be handy. But his being here wasn't a -coincidence."</p> - -<p>"Eh?" Ronson said. It was difficult to follow her thinking. She seemed -to say a lot, or nothing, all with the same words, the only difference -being the voice tone she used. If she chose, she had all the gifts of a -man in concealing her true feelings and real opinions.</p> - -<p>Her voice was calm, her face expressionless. "The grapevine in Mars -Port said the Earth's top-flight bio-physicist was coming here, that -old Les Ro was thought to have something that human scientists were all -hotted up about, and that you were coming here to investigate, and to -chisel Les Ro out of a piece of it, if he would stand still for such -treatment."</p> - -<p>Ronson blinked at her. She had delivered a bombshell and she had done -it as if she thought what she said was of no importance: "I'm not -trying to chisel Les Ro or anybody out of anything." His calm matched -her aplomb.</p> - -<p>"That's not the way the grapevine had it."</p> - -<p>"I don't care how the grapevine had it. I know my own motives and my -purpose in coming here." An edge crept into his voice as he realized -one possible result of what she was saying.</p> - -<p>"That may be true. But do the Martians know them?"</p> - -<p>Ronson was silent, his thinking perturbed.</p> - -<p>"So I hired Sam and came here," Jennie Ware continued. "If Les Ro was -big enough to attract you, he was also big enough to provide me with -copy for my next book."</p> - -<p>"So you could find copy for a damned book, you risked my neck!" Ronson -said, his voice hot.</p> - -<p>"I didn't risk it a tenth as much as you're doing, by yelling at the -top of your lungs where half of Mars can hear you. Anyhow, I saved your -clothes and maybe your hide out in front a while ago. Doesn't that -count for something?"</p> - -<p>"Sorry," Ronson said abruptly. "I lost my temper."</p> - -<p>"I'd like to make one point," Crick said. "We've got a mighty hot -collection of thieves, crooks, and killers present in this joint."</p> - -<p>Jennie Ware and Jim Ronson stared at him.</p> - -<p>Crick gestured toward the Martian with the two guards. "That's Tal -Bock. He belongs in the upper lentz country, where he is the leader of -a gang of killers and thieves. The one over there soaking his hands in -smoke is Kus Dorken. He's not any better than Tal Bock."</p> - -<p>"What are they doing here?" the girl asked.</p> - -<p>"I don't know," Crick answered. "Unless maybe they've been listening in -on the grapevine too."</p> - -<p>For a moment, it looked as if Jennie Ware was about to cry. She seemed, -suddenly, to become a small girl who had done something wrong and -was very sorry for it and was trying to find some way to express her -sorrow. Her hand came across the table again, touched Ronson's hand -hesitantly.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry, Jim, if I got you into trouble. But I knew your reputation. -If you were coming here, something big was here. I—I wanted to be in -on it. I guess all my life I've wanted to be in on something big. If I -actually got you into trouble, Sam and I are here to help you get out -of it. Isn't that right, Sam?"</p> - -<p>"Right, Jennie." A growl sounded in the tall adventurer's voice. -"Thanks, both of you," Ronson said. He was deeply touched. In spite of -the shell of bravado that she wore, and her sudden spurting anger, he -liked this girl. She might have the reputation of an uninhibited vixen, -but somewhere inside of her was a small girl looking out from awed and -wondering eyes at the vastness of the world.</p> - -<p>"Watch it!" Crick's whisper was shrill and sharp. His eyes were focused -on the ceiling.</p> - -<p>All the sounds of the place, the rattle of glasses, the sharp giggling -of soliciting women, the deep voices of the Martian males, had gone -into sudden and complete silence. Like Crick, they were looking upward. -Ronson followed their gaze to the ceiling. Jennie Ware gave a quick -cry. Glass tinkled and broke as she dropped her drink.</p> - -<p>Jim Ronson did not hear the sound. His entire attention was focused on -what was happening on the ceiling.</p> - -<p>The dive itself had been cut into the side of the cliff. The solid rock -of the ceiling had not been disguised or masked.</p> - -<p>At first glance, Ronson thought his eyes were deceiving him. The solid -stone itself seemed to be in motion. A sort of melting, shifting flow -seemed to be taking place as if the molecules and perhaps even the -atoms themselves were dissolving.</p> - -<p>"That's atomic disintegration, or atomic shifting, under control!" Sam -Crick gasped.</p> - -<p>"It's a mirage," Jennie Ware whispered. "It must be."</p> - -<p>"If it's a mirage, everybody in the place is seeing it," Ronson said.</p> - -<p>There was not a sound in the huge room. The waiters had come to -attention like trained soldiers. The females had abruptly lost all -interest in what they were doing. Out of the corner of his eyes, Ronson -saw one female make a sudden darting movement across the room. One foot -touched the circle on the floor as she ran. She took two more steps -and fell, sagging downward as if every muscle in her body had suddenly -refused to function. She lay on the floor without moving. Not a head -was turned toward her, not a Martian moved to help her. In her action -Ronson saw one reason why the Martians avoided the circle on the floor. -Something was definitely wrong with that circle. Looking at the roof, -he saw the reason.</p> - -<p>The flowing, shifting movement there had formed into a circle the same -size as the circle on the floor and directly above it. Little flickers -of light, like the discharge of high frequency currents, were flowing -between the two circles. Swiftly the flickers of light became an opaque -cylinder of misty flame extending from the ceiling to the floor.</p> - -<p>From the opaque cylinder of light, a Martian stepped.</p> - -<p>Without quite knowing how he knew it, Ronson knew that this was Les -Ro's Messenger.</p> - -<p>The Messenger was old, perhaps as old as the granite mountain above -them, if the network of fine wrinkles on his face were an accurate -indication of his age. With age, calmness and serenity had come to this -Martian. His eyes gave the impression that they had seen everything. -What they had not seen, the brain behind them had imagined. Peace was -in the eyes and on the face, the deep peace that many human saints had -sought and had found.</p> - -<p>"I like him," Jennie Ware whispered.</p> - -<p>The Messenger carried himself with a sureness that was full of meaning. -He glanced around the room. His eyes settled on the three humans at the -table. A sort of a glow appeared on his face, lighting it as if with a -halo. He moved toward them, stopped and stood looking down at them. For -a moment, his face was blank, and even his eyes seemed to be withdrawn.</p> - -<p>"ESP!" Crick whispered. "Guard your thinking."</p> - -<p>The eyes flicked toward Crick, then came to Ronson. The human felt a -touch that was feather-light appear in his brain. It seemed to run like -lightning through the nerve cells. Then it was withdrawn. The smile -came back to the face of the Messenger.</p> - -<p>"Les Ro has waited a long time for one like you, my son. He will see -you." The voice was deep and pleasant. Somewhere in it were tones that -were bell pure.</p> - -<p>Ronson rose to his feet.</p> - -<p>"Watch it!" Crick whispered. "This may not be on the up and up."</p> - -<p>"I came here to see Les Ro." Ronson answered. "I'm not going to back -out now. Which way do I go?" The last was spoken to the Messenger.</p> - -<p>The Martian bowed. The wave of his hand indicated the cylinder of misty -radiance flowing from the ceiling to the floor. "Just step into the -light, my son."</p> - -<p>"Jim!" Jennie's voice had a frantic plea in it.</p> - -<p>"May my friends go with me?" Ronson said.</p> - -<p>The Messenger shook his head. His face said he was very sorry but that -the answer was no. "I have no instructions for them. Only you, my son. -Les Ro has waited very long for someone like you."</p> - -<p>Ronson did not know whether he was pleased or not. But he knew he was -greatly excited. If the rumors had been right, if the grapevine had -reported correctly, something was here in the heart of the Martian -mountain that had never existed before in the solar system—and -perhaps not in the universe. He stepped boldly into the opaque radiance.</p> - -<p>To Jennie Ware and Sam Crick it looked as if he had stepped out of -existence.</p> - -<p>To Jim Ronson, when he stepped into the light, it seemed to him that -millions of tiny hands instantly grasped him. They lifted him upward. -It seemed as if they changed directions, but he could not be sure of -that. The motion stopped. He felt a firm substance under his feet. The -tiny hands released him, the opaque light fell away from him. He was -standing in the center of a circle in a room cut out of solid stone, a -room that had no exit and no entrance except the one under his feet, -the solid stone floor through which the microscopic hands had lifted -him.</p> - -<p>Panic came up in him then and his hand dived for the gun in his coat -pocket. It came away empty. The gun had been removed without his -knowledge on the transit upward. Examination revealed that every bit -of metal had been removed from his pockets. Only his wrist watch had -been left and that apparently because the metal strap around his wrist -had resisted removal. Automatically he pushed the button on the side of -the watch. On the dial the tiny green light glowed. Neither the light -that had lifted him upward nor this room contained lethal radiations. -The sight of the green light made him feel better. But not much. Sweat -appeared on his skin as he waited. Inside his chest, he felt his heart -begin to speed up its beating.</p> - -<p>Light danced in the wall. The stone seemed to dissolve. The Messenger -came through. The wrinkles on the fine face glowed like ivory at the -sight of Ronson.</p> - -<p>"I hope you will forgive me for keeping you waiting. Other—ah—tasks -demanded my attention at the moment."</p> - -<p>"It's quite all right. Finding myself here unexpectedly was a little -hard on my nerves but the chance to see Les Ro will be worth the shock -to my nervous system. I assume this is the way." Ronson moved toward -the light dancing on the wall, then stopped as he saw the Martian was -not following. "What's wrong?"</p> - -<p>The smile was gone from the face of the Messenger. "One must prove -himself worthy of seeing Les Ro."</p> - -<p>"Eh?" A little touch of fear came up in the human. "Worthy?"</p> - -<p>"Also, it would be well to tell me why you want to see Les Ro. I will -carry your request to him."</p> - -<p>"But you said Les Ro wanted to see me, that he had waited a long time -for someone like me. Though how he knows anything about me—" Ronson's -voice went into uneasy silence. Had the grapevine reported his coming -here? Or had Crick's whisper about extra-sensory perception in -operation had some basis in fact?</p> - -<p>"I said Les Ro waited a long time for someone <b>like</b> you." For a -moment hope showed on the wrinkled face. "But not necessarily for you. -You have certain qualities that Les Ro seeks, but until you have proved -that you have other qualities as well—" Sadness replaced the hope. -"Tell me what you seek here?"</p> - -<p>Ronson felt rebellion come up in him. Then he remembered that on Mars -the only law protecting humans was what they could make and enforce -for themselves. "Rumors have reached us on Earth of Les Ro's great -accomplishments. It is our hope that we can share our knowledge, pool -our discoveries. It is our belief that great advances can come from -this sharing—for both humans and Martians."</p> - -<p>Ronson spoke quietly. Only the tone of his voice expressed the very -deep and very real feeling he was putting into words. Yet in the -quietly spoken words his dream was expressed—and the dream of every -real scientist in the history of Earth—of progress, of forward motion, -of leaving behind them a world a little better than the one they had -known. Once this dream had been only for humans. Now it included -Martians too, and every other race within the solar system.</p> - -<p>The Messenger smiled at the words. But under the smile was concern.</p> - -<p>"Do you mean that you humans still face problems that you cannot solve? -But you have made tremendous scientific advances, much greater than we -of Mars have made. Space flight is only one illustration—"</p> - -<p>"Unfortunately, many of our scientific advances have brought more -problems than they have solved." Grimness crept into Ronson's voice -"Before atomic energy was released, it was prophesied that the release -of this energy would solve all the problems of our planet. This was -over two hundred years ago. We are still striving to regain the losses -suffered in the first and second atomic wars."</p> - -<p>"Wars?" The face of the Martian showed amazement. "You humans are -fools."</p> - -<p>"We are trying to stop being fools. Or some of us are. But something -seems to defeat our efforts."</p> - -<p>"Yes." Keen interest showed on the face of the Martian. "Do you have -this problem too? I wonder if it's the same something—"</p> - -<p>"We live in the same universe."</p> - -<p>"Can you state the problem more exactly?"</p> - -<p>"I can give you an illustration of it. At the same time, I will give -you my reason for being here." Ronson took a deep breath, considered -the words he was going to use. "I'm a bio-physicist. This means that -my specialty is the living cell and the changes that can and do take -place in it. We have a name for one of the changes that may take place -there—cancer."</p> - -<p>"A disease."</p> - -<p>"Yes. And a very serious one. Often tied up with radioactivity, it is a -change that takes place in the interior of a living cell."</p> - -<p>"I know—"</p> - -<p>"No less than eight times in the past hundred years, human doctors -have found a cure for this mutation within the cell. Each cure worked, -perfectly, for a time."</p> - -<p>"And then—"</p> - -<p>"Then this something defeated their efforts. A change took place. A new -form of cancer appeared, which did not yield to the treatment that had -been effective previously." Ronson found his breathing was becoming -heavier.</p> - -<p>The Messenger moved up and down the cell, pacing, his right hand -rubbing his chin. "Yes, it is the same something. Les Ro has talked of -it often. It has defeated even him. He calls it <b>change</b>. There -seems to be a law in this universe against anything remaining the -same—But why did you come here? Do you seek a new way to cure this -disease called cancer?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. A permanent way. A way that goes behind the law of change."</p> - -<p>"Do you think you could find such a thing here?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. And here I have proof. Detailed reports from human physicians at -Mars Port. In three instances, Martian patients admitted to the human -hospital there were found to be suffering from inoperable cancer. -Each was discharged, as incurable. Within the following two years, -each patient returned to the hospital there, one to have a knife -wound treated, a second to have a broken bone set, a third because of -injuries suffered in an accident. As soon as they were admitted, the -records were checked, and the previous diagnosis of cancer was found. -Each case of cancer had been cured. Each Martian told the same story, -that he had been here, and that Les Ro had cured the disease."</p> - -<p>"And you came here seeking the ninth solution from Les Ro for your -people?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. And for one other reason."</p> - -<p>"Eh?"</p> - -<p>"The cancer I am trying hardest to cure is—here." Very gently, Jim -Ronson rubbed his chest. At the action, and at his thought, his heart -picked up an anxious beat.</p> - -<p>For an instant, the face of the Martian showed blank astonishment. -Compassion followed the astonishment, a flood of it. "My son!" The -voice had pity and understanding and sympathy in it. "Les Ro will see -you."</p> - -<p>"Good!" Relief surged up inside Jim Ronson. He had travelled many a -weary mile for this moment. He had faced frustration and despair. The -best doctors on Earth had told him they could do nothing for him. Now, -here, in the heart of a mountain near the south pole of Mars—</p> - -<p>"Follow me," the Messenger said.</p> - -<p>The wall swirled in front of him. He stepped into the misty opaqueness -and Ronson followed him. Inside the light, the human felt the millions -of microscopic hands take hold of him. Their touch was gentle and -caressing, softly tender. Suddenly their touch was firm and strong. He -felt them seize his clothing and rip it from his body. Their gentle, -caressing touch was gone. In its place was an almost manic fury. A -scream ripped involuntarily from his throat.</p> - -<p>The scream was flung into complete silence. No echo of it came back to -his ears.</p> - -<p>Blackness beat at him, flowed in over him, flowed through him. The -blackness ransacked every nook and corner of his body. It probed to the -bottom of his soul.</p> - -<p>It swallowed him whole. It dissected his consciousness, tore it to -shreds, then yanked away even the shreds. He seemed to be falling into -a black hole that had no end.</p> - -<p>Ronson did not know how long the blackness lasted. The first sense to -come back was hearing. Somewhere near him he heard a grunt. Then the -sense of feeling came back and he realized he was lying naked on sand. -He didn't much want to open his eyes. Finally he forced them open. His -vision was blurred and vague. When it cleared he saw the source of the -grunt.</p> - -<p>The sound had come from Tal Bock, squatting on the sand near him. Tal -Bock was also naked. Unlike Ronson, the millions of microscopic hands -in the darkness had not left even a wrist watch on the Martian.</p> - -<p>"Happy—ah—wind time," Ronson said. Tal Bock grunted, but did not -answer.</p> - -<p>"Where are we?"</p> - -<p>"Hell," Tal Bock said. He got up and walked into the shrubbery behind -him.</p> - -<p>Ronson rose. He was shaky, his legs seemed too long to reach the sand, -a subjective impression that almost amused him, but didn't quite. To -the left another Martian was squatting cross-legged on the sand. Ronson -looked, then looked again. He moved toward the Martian to make certain.</p> - -<p>It was the leper who had been on the street outside the dive. Without -the rags, the Martian was hardly recognizable. The sores provided a -certain means of identification. There was no mistaking them.</p> - -<p>"How did you get here?" Ronson asked.</p> - -<p>The leper made a weak gesture with his hands which said, "Go away." His -attitude was resigned but about his manner was an air of expectancy.</p> - -<p>Ronson discovered that the place in which he had found himself was a -cavern about half a mile in diameter. It was adequately lighted though -the light sprang from no source that he could detect. The place was -pleasant enough. There was water here. It flowed in little rills set in -stonework. Grass and desert shrubs grew here. The air was moist, with a -fragrant sweetness somewhere about it.</p> - -<p>Something was in the air besides the moisture and the fragrant -sweetness. It was intangible, almost imperceptible. Ronson cocked his -head, trying to catch this something. It was always out of the range of -his sensory perception, an intangible, elusive quality that perplexed -him.</p> - -<p>"Subliminal," he thought. "Maybe super-sonic sound just above the range -of hearing."</p> - -<p>Why super-sonic sound? He did not know. He felt dazed. There was a -heavy feeling through his whole body. Why was he here? He had been told -he would see Les Ro. There was also talk about a man proving if he was -worthy—</p> - -<p>He did not like this thinking. He tried to shut it off, but it was a -persistent gadfly that returned to buzz again and again in his brain.</p> - -<p>The out-of-hearing sound seemed to buzz with it, slipping in and out -of hearing too fast for the mind to grasp it. Each time it slipped -into hearing for the fractional part of a second, it brought a flick -of agony with it. At the touch, he became almost giddy. Alarm bells -rang suddenly inside his head. The note went out of hearing again, the -giddiness passed, the alarm bells went into silence.</p> - -<p>In the shrubbery ahead of him, a figure moved—Kus Dorken.</p> - -<p>Two of the worst killers on Mars were here in this place. A leper. A -human. Unease came up inside Jim Ronson, a sharp stab of it. Inside his -chest a surge of pain broke through the barriers he had erected around -it, reminding him of what was there.</p> - -<p>He had come here seeking relief for that surge of pain. Instead of -getting what he had asked for, he had been thrust into place. With two -killers and a leper and—A shout broke into his thinking. A Martian -was running along the walls, seeking for an exit. It was Te Hold. -Te Hold had recovered from the effect of the thormoline and had been -brought here. Ronson watched the Martian run along the walls, searching -desperately for a way out. Te Hold screamed as he ran but he didn't -find an exit. The screams died out as he reached the far end of the -oval, then grew stronger as he came back again upon his own steps.</p> - -<p>Kus Dorken slid out of sight. Tal Bock was somewhere in that shrubbery -too, where, Ronson didn't know. And didn't care. A feeling of -hopelessness was coming up in him. He moved back to the leper, squatted -on the sand beside the man, asked a question.</p> - -<p>The leper's eyes flicked at him in response but there was no other -answer. An ecstacy was in the eyes now. The leper was so lost in this -ecstacy that such things as grunted noises from a member of an alien -race made no impression on him. Ronson envied him. The leper was close -to death but he was so lost in some inner ecstacy that death was -unimportant to him.</p> - -<p>"Did Les Ro's Messenger promise you that you would be cured of your -leprosy?" Ronson asked, persisting.</p> - -<p>The leper nodded. Again his hand waved in the "Go away," gesture.</p> - -<p>"Go away and let you die in peace?" Ronson said.</p> - -<p>"Just go away," the leper answered.</p> - -<p>Ronson rose to his feet, angry. What farce was being perpetrated here? -What—The super-sonic note came into hearing. Pain stabbed at his chest.</p> - -<p>He lifted his hand involuntarily. The sight of the dial on his wrist -watch forced itself through the pulses of pain.</p> - -<p>As a part of his research into cell structure, Ronson had worked -extensively with radioactivity. In order to protect himself, he had had -a microscopically small radiation detector built into the watch itself. -Three tiny glow tubes were set into the dial. If the green tube glowed, -radiation was present but was safe. If the amber light glowed, be wary. -If the red light glowed, <b>get out fast</b>!</p> - -<p>The red light was glowing now. As Ronson stared, it winked out. Before -he could take his eyes away from the dial, the red light flicked on -again. The super-sonic note came with it. A flick of very real pain -came with the note. The red light flicked out, the note vanished. The -pain was gone.</p> - -<p>"Regular pulsations of radiation are being poured through this place!" -Ronson whispered.</p> - -<p>It was being done deliberately. The whole cavern was being flooded -periodically with bursts of radiation. This meant deliberate intention, -purpose, plan. He did not know what impact this radiation might have -on Martian flesh but he could guess the effect it might have on human -tissue.</p> - -<p>Fear came up in him, a flood of it. Anger followed it. The lights on -his watch danced. Pain, agony, and the shrill note of the super-sonic -came again. Grimly, he began to prowl the cavern, searching for the -source of the radiations. The radiation counter in his watch led him to -it, by the increased intensity of its glow. The radiations were coming -from a single spot in the wall of the cavern. So far as he could tell, -the wall was solid stone at this place, but he had seen solid stone -walls dissolve in this madhouse. Behind this spot there was intelligent -direction of the bursts of radiation.</p> - -<p>Back there Les Ro, or someone with him, was playing games of life and -death with—</p> - -<p>Te Hold came past him, screaming. The Martian was beginning to stumble -as he ran. The screams were only gasping sounds in his throat.</p> - -<p>Voices rose in shouted argument somewhere in the shrubbery. Ronson -moved away.</p> - -<p>"What's going on there?" he asked the leper.</p> - -<p>"Tal Bock—and Kus Dorken—have disagreed—as to which is the bigger -killer—and therefore which is the more worthy. They fight—to decide -the problem."</p> - -<p>The words were quietly spoken. The tone said the matter was of no -importance. After he had finished speaking, the leper's eyes went -back to the inner ecstacy that he seemed to be watching. Or was it -<b>future</b> ecstacy that he was imagining?</p> - -<p>"I hope there is a heaven for Martians," Ronson said. So far as he -knew, only in heaven could this leper's health be restored. Was the -same true for him?</p> - -<p>Voices screamed in the shrubbery. Giving ground before the heavy blows -Tal Bock was striking at him, Kus Dorken came stumbling backward. He -slipped in the sand and fell heavily. Tal Bock leaped at him. Kus -Dorken screamed once, a sound that gasped into silence as Tal Bock's -fingers closed over his throat. For a time, they threshed in the sand. -Then Kus Dorken went limp. Viciously Tal Bock slapped his foe across -the face. When there was no response, he poured sand into Kus Dorken's -mouth, scooping it up in handfuls and cramming it down his foe's gullet.</p> - -<p>Tal Bock got to his feet. The scream that ripped from his lips was pure -triumph. Utterly naked, he stood beside the body of his victim, shaking -his fist at the roof of the cavern, screaming defiance at the universe.</p> - -<p>Ronson fervidly hoped that the radiation flowing through the Martian -would strike him dead. The scream went into silence. Tal Bock's gaze -fell on the leper, he moved in that direction. Viciously he kicked the -leper.</p> - -<p>The sick Martian slipped from his squatting position and lay inert.</p> - -<p>Ronson moved forward. With all the strength that he possessed, he hit -Tal Bock behind the ear. As he struck the blow, the super-sonic note -screamed through him.</p> - -<p>Ronson's blow knocked Tal Bock sprawling. Like a gigantic cat, the -Martian came to his feet.</p> - -<p><b>Ping!</b></p> - -<p>Tal Bock moved toward Ronson in little short steps. He was like a cat -getting ready to pounce. The grin on his face said he was going to -anticipate destroying this human.</p> - -<p><b>Ping!</b></p> - -<p>Tal Bock lost his footing. He fell heavily and tried to rise. A -confused expression was on his face. The effort to rise was more than -he could manage. Collapsing, he lay without moving.</p> - -<p>"Jim! Here! Quick!" The voice came from the shrubbery. His first -thought was that he was hallucinating. Jennie Ware and Sam Crick -could not be there in that shrubbery, fully clothed, Jennie beckoning -frantically to him, Crick with a needle gun in his hand.</p> - -<p>They came to him, on the run. Jennie caught one arm, Crick caught the -other. Supporting him between them, they ran through the shrubbery. -In the opposite wall, a hole showed, an honest opening, not a -light-swirling mirage. Inside it, Crick swung shut a door. A Martian -lay on the floor of the tunnel.</p> - -<p>"How—how did you get here?" Ronson gasped.</p> - -<p>Crick nodded to the Martian on the floor. "We persuaded Tocko to bring -us. He knew a little more about this place than he ever let on. After -he brought us here, we gave him a needle, to keep him quiet while we -rescued you." The tall adventurer grinned as he spoke.</p> - -<p>"Come on, Jim. We know the way out of here. If we get out before they -discover what has happened—" The girl was all frantic motion moving -toward escape.</p> - -<p>"I'm not going," Ronson said.</p> - -<p>"What?" the girl gasped.</p> - -<p>Ronson turned to Crick. "Do you have an extra gun?"</p> - -<p>"Of course. But, Jim—"</p> - -<p>"Lend it to me, will you? I may need it before I'm finished here."</p> - -<p>"Eh?" Crick was startled.</p> - -<p>Ronson explained what he meant. Crick's face grew grim. He took an -extra needle gun out of his coat pocket. "I guess maybe you could use a -little help on this job, Jim. Eh, Jennie?" He glanced at the girl.</p> - -<p>Fear was on her face. She wanted to run, to get away, forever, from -this place of horror. But some things were more important than running.</p> - -<p>"We'll make it a threesome," she said.</p> - -<p>"Good girl!" Ronson spoke.</p> - -<p>A passage circled the oval cavern. With Ronson in the lead, they -followed it until they came to the spot from which the radiations were -being poured into the cavern. Here was a large room. The passage led -directly into it.</p> - -<p>Inside the room was a tremendous array of complex electrical apparatus. -Ronson had never seen anything as good as this in even the best -laboratories back on Earth. He could not even guess the purpose of -most of the equipment, it had been designed by a Martian mind and -constructed by Martian hands—with a Martian goal in view.</p> - -<p>Set in the middle of the room were the control panels of the equipment. -Directly above the panels was a smoky visio screen that revealed dimly -what was happening in the cavern. Just rising from his place at the -controls was—the Messenger.</p> - -<p>He looked up and into the muzzle of the needle gun Ronson was holding. -A tiny startled reaction played across his poised face, disturbing the -many wrinkles there, then was gone. A smile replaced it.</p> - -<p>"Ah, yes. I had just discovered you were missing and I was starting to -look for you."</p> - -<p>Behind him, Ronson heard Jennie Ware catch her breath. He knew she was -thinking that they should have run while they had the chance.</p> - -<p>"We saved you the trouble, Les Ro," Ronson said.</p> - -<p>The startled reaction was more pronounced this time. "You guessed?"</p> - -<p>"That Les Ro and his Messenger were one and the same? It was obvious -when you did not need to communicate what I had said to Les Ro. How -many others are here with you?"</p> - -<p>The question was important. Their own survival depended on the number -of Martians here.</p> - -<p>The startled reaction was very real this time. "No one else is here?"</p> - -<p>"You are alone!"</p> - -<p>"I am alone. Many times I have longed—"</p> - -<p>"Watch him Jim." Crick whispered. "This doesn't smell right to me."</p> - -<p>"Do you mean to tell me that you alone built this apparatus?" Ronson -gestured toward the array of equipment in the room.</p> - -<p>"This? This is only a part. It was a long task. Many weary years I have -spent here—"</p> - -<p>"He's telling the truth, Jim," Jennie Ware whispered.</p> - -<p>"But one pair of hands, to build all of this." Shock was in Ronson, -perhaps even greater shock than he had experienced in the cavern. He -stared at Les Ro. Respect was in him and admiration, if not liking. -"Then you are indeed a genius. The rumors were partly right, after all."</p> - -<p>"Thank you."</p> - -<p>"But why couldn't you get someone to help you?"</p> - -<p>Sadness showed on Les Ro's face. "You have seen the people in the -drinking room below. Which of them could understand how an electron -circles in its orbit? Many times I have tried to train the brightest of -them. The result was inevitable failure. That is why, when you came—" -Longing came into Les Ro's eyes.</p> - -<p>"Watch him, Jim," Crick whispered.</p> - -<p>"I know it doesn't track," Ronson said. His voice grew grim and hard. -Bitterness boiled in it. He was facing his own frustration here, in -the failure of his deep hopes in coming to this place. A touch of pain -moving through his chest told him what that failure meant to him. He -gestured toward the cavern. "Out there I saw Martians destroying each -other. In this, they were wiser than they knew. The ones who died -quickly were lucky. The choice was between a quick death and slow, -horrible death from the radiation pouring through that place."</p> - -<p>Pain and consternation showed on Les Ro's face. He seemed to hear only -Ronson's last words. "How did you detect the radiation?"</p> - -<p>"With this." Ronson nodded toward his watch.</p> - -<p>"This is wonderful. You humans actually have a reliable method of -detecting radiation! I have striven so hard to build such a device. -Let me see it." He moved toward Ronson as if nothing else were of any -importance in comparison to the detector.</p> - -<p>"Stand back. Kus Dorken and Te Hold and the leper would not have -thought the radiation pouring through them was wonderful, if they had -known about it. Nor will Tal Bock, before he dies."</p> - -<p>Real pain darkened the fine patina of the Martian's face. "Do you -really believe this of me?"</p> - -<p>"I saw it happen," Ronson answered. "I was there. I saw Tal Bock -destroy Kus Dorken—"</p> - -<p>"One moment, please." Les Ro's hand moved among the controls. Ronson's -hand tightened on the trigger. He held off firing. Somewhere a relay -thudded home. Power surged. The wall in the front of the room began to -glow with light.</p> - -<p>"Wait, please! Walt!"</p> - -<p>The leper came first through the swirling mistiness. He walked erect, -his back straight and his head up. The light of eager anticipation was -still in his eyes but something new had been added now—realization.</p> - -<p>"But Tal Bock killed him. I saw it," Ronson whispered.</p> - -<p>"No," Les Ro gently negated. "When Tal Bock attacked him, I put him -into a trance condition, to save him."</p> - -<p>Ronson hardly heard the answer. His eyes were fixed on something else. -"The sores—" The sores were not gone but they had diminished in -size. Replacing the rotten tissue, new flesh had already begun to form.</p> - -<p>"This is what he asked, when he came to me," Les Ro said. "This is what -he got."</p> - -<p>"But this is a miracle."</p> - -<p>Again Les Ro denied the statement. "This is natural law in operation, -though to you the laws may be unknown. Watch."</p> - -<p>The leper would have dropped to his knees and kissed Les Ro's hand, but -the Martian forbade it, sending him to wait elsewhere.</p> - -<p>Te Hold came through the swirling light—a Te Hold who was without -fear. Then, Kus Dorken came. He was still spitting sand out of his -mouth but the bluster and the bravado and the anger were gone from him. -He was a new Kus Dorken. Inside, he had been subtly changed. Flowing -outward, the change showed on his face as a gentle kindliness.</p> - -<p>"He was a killer when I saw him first," Jennie Ware said. "Now—he -looks like a saint."</p> - -<p>Les Ro smiled at her. "He will be a saint, from now on. He knows how -to be one, now. As to Tal Bock, he has not yet recovered from your -needles. When he does recover, he will come out of the cavern a saint -too."</p> - -<p>"But why didn't you tell me about this?" Ronson whispered. "Why did -you just thrust me, and presumably the others too, in there without -warning. Why didn't you tell us?"</p> - -<p>"To have told you, might have defeated my purpose, or prolonged its -achievement. I put all who come to me in the cavern. There, the killer -will try to kill, the coward will run, the brave man will fight. As -the killer tries to kill, he will use the reaction patterns he has -known all his life. As he uses them, I throw bursts of energy at him. -I disconnect the kill patterns. The energy penetrates right down to -the levels of the cells, and even goes lower than that, changing old -patterns—"</p> - -<p>"New lamps for old," the girl whispered.</p> - -<p>Ronson was silent. His thinking was perturbed, almost bewildered. What -Les Ro had said made sense. Reaction patterns had to change down to -and through the cellular level. If the patterns were struck by bursts -of radiant energy—but this was the method nature used! This was the -method of the <b>something</b> they had sought but which had always -eluded them. The change in the cells that was called cancer—again pain -flicked through his chest—more often than not this change was brought -about by radiant energy operating on cellular structure! Les Ro had -organized this something, this wild talent of nature, and was making it -do useful work.</p> - -<p>"But it did not work for me," Ronson protested.</p> - -<p>"Human cellular structure and Martian cellular structure are -different," Les Ro answered. "This is the first opportunity I have had -to work with humans. More time is needed to produce the changes in -them. That is all." A beatific smile lit the face of the old Martian. -It went slowly away as his eyes came to focus on the girl. Ronson -turned, gasped when he saw what she was doing.</p> - -<p>She was stripping herself. Without embarrassment and shame, she took -off her clothes. She stood before them, naked.</p> - -<p>"A human woman!" Les Ro said.</p> - -<p>"Outside, I'm a woman," Jennie Ware answered. "But inside I've got more -of the organization of a man than a woman. The result has been that -all my life there's been a fight within me. Instead of being a woman, -I have only succeeded in being a bitch, all jangle of nerves, always -trying to do what the men did, but knowing I really couldn't, because -I was a woman. I'm tired of this. I'm sick and tired of it!" Her voice -grew frantic for a moment. Then she was calm again.</p> - -<p>"I want to be a woman. Do you think that if I went in there—" she -gestured toward the cavern, "that you could help me be a—woman?" The -appeal in her eyes and in her voice begged for one answer.</p> - -<p>"I have never worked with a human woman—"</p> - -<p>"Then use me as a guinea pig!" As if the answer were predetermined, her -chin up, with not a look behind her, she moved through the misty light -and out of sight—like Eve stepping into the Garden of Eden in the dawn -of a new world.</p> - -<p>Les Ro's hands moved over the switches.</p> - -<p>Jim Ronson dropped the needle gun. For a split second, he hesitated. -Then he walked toward the swirling light.</p> - -<p>Les Ro's voice stopped him. "When you are cured, my son, when you are -finished in there, come back, and we will work together on the problems -of your world and mine. This I have dreamed of since the first day I -began work here, that someone with sufficient intelligence might come -to work beside me."</p> - -<p>Ronson smiled, nodded. As he stepped into the mistiness, Les Ro's face -beamed at him, enhaloed, like a saint.</p> - -<p>The girl was wandering through the shrubbery. She seemed not to see him -but when he came into step beside her, she looked up and smiled. Arm in -arm, they walked together, in a place that had been hell, but was now -heaven, waiting for the miracle to take place within them. And little -by little, in minute bursts of spurting quanta, Jim Ronson felt the -pain in his chest go away.</p> - -<p>The girl beside him was no longer the bitter harriden who had almost -turned Pluto Dome upside down when she had been ejected from a space -ship that never returned. She was no longer the unhappy roamer who had -wandered the paths of the planets, defying all creation and herself. -She was becoming something else—a woman. The fact showed in the -gentleness of her smile.</p> - -<p>His arm went around her and she came closer without hesitation. A glow -came up inside of both them, and grew stronger.</p> - - -<p class="ph4">THE END</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of New Lamps, by Robert Moore Williams - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW LAMPS *** - -***** This file should be named 52009-h.htm or 52009-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/0/0/52009/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: New Lamps - -Author: Robert Moore Williams - -Release Date: May 6, 2016 [EBook #52009] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW LAMPS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - NEW LAMPS - - By Robert Moore Williams - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Other Worlds May 1957. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - Ronson came to the Red Planet on the strangest mission of all ... - he only knew he wanted to see Les Ro, but he didn't know exactly - why. It was because he knew that Les Ro had the answer to - something that had never been answered before, if indeed, it had - ever been asked! For Les Ro traded new lamps for old--and they - were the lamps of life itself! - - -On Mars, the dust is yellow, and microscopically fine. With the result -that it penetrates to the sensitive lung tissues of a human being, -causing distress. Crossing the street toward the dive set into the -towering wall of the cliff overhead, Jim Ronson sneezed violently. -He wished fervidly that he might get another glimpse of what Robert -Heinlein, two centuries before, had nostalgically called _The Cool -Green Hills of Earth_, and again smell air that had no dust in it. -Deep inside of him a small voice whispered that he would be very lucky -if he ever saw the green hills of Earth again. - -Somewhere ahead of him, in the granite core of the mountain, was -something that no human had ever seen. Rumors of what was here had -reached Jim Ronson. They had been sufficiently exciting to lift him -out of an Earth laboratory and to bring him on a space ship to Mars, -feverishly sleep-learning the Martian language as he made the hop, to -investigate what might be here in this granite mountain near the south -pole of the Red Planet. Some Martians knew what was here. In Mars Port, -Ronson had talked to one who obviously knew. But the Martian either -could not or would not tell what he knew. - -Across the street, squatting against the wall, were a dozen Martians. -One was segregated from the rest. They watched the human get out of -the _dothar_ drawn cart that had brought him from the jet taxi -that had landed on the sand outside this village, pay his fare, and -come toward them. Taking a half-hitch around his courage, Ronson moved -past them. He glanced down at the one sitting apart from the rest, then -averted his eyes, unease and discomfort rising in him. The Martian was -a leper. Ronson forced himself to look again. The sores were clearly -visible, the eyes were dull and apathetic, without hope. As if some of -the leper's hopelessness were communicated to him, Ronson felt a touch -of despair. In this place, if the rumors were true, how could there -be a leper? How--He paused as one of the Martians squatting on the -sidewalk rose to bar his way. - -On the Red Planet, humans were strictly on their own. If they got -themselves into trouble, no consular agent was available to help them. -If they got killed, no representative of Earth law came to ask why -or to bring the killers to human justice. No amount of argument or -persuasion on the part of delegates from Earth had ever produced a -treaty guaranteeing the lives or even the safety of humans who went -beyond the limits of Mars Port. The Martians simply could not see any -reason for protecting these strange creatures who had come uninvited -across space. Let humans look out for themselves! - -The Martian who rose in front of Ronson was big and looked mean. Four -knives hung from the belt circling his waist. Ronson did not doubt that -the fellow could stab very expertly with the knives or that he could -throw them with the accuracy of a bullet within a range of thirty feet. -In the side pocket of the heavy _dothar_-skin coat that he wore, -Ronson had a _zen_ gun which he had purchased before leaving Mars -Port. The little weapon threw an explosive bullet guaranteed to change -forever the mind of any human or any Martian who got in the way of it. -Ronson did not doubt that he could draw and fire the gun before the -Martian could use one of the knives but he also knew that he did not -want to start a fight here in the street. What was inside the mountain -was too important to risk. - -"Happy wind time," Ronson said. This greeting was good manners anywhere -on Mars. He bowed to the Martian. As he bowed, the fellow snatched his -hat, held it aloft as a trophy. - -Laughter echoed through the watching Martians. Only the leper was -unmoved. The Martian put the hat on his own head, where it sank down -over his ears. He wiggled his scalp and the hat danced. The laughter -grew stronger. - -Ronson kept his temper. "I'll take my hat back," he said, politely. - -"Ho!" the Martian said. "Try and get it." - -"I want my hat back," Ronson said, a little less politely. Inside, he -was coming to a boil. Like a stupid child, this Martian was playing -a silly game. To them, this was fun. To the human, it was not fun. A -wrong move on his part, or even no move, and they might be on him like -wolves, endangering the purpose that had brought him here. Or had Les -Ro, catching wind somehow of his visit, set these stupid creatures -across his path? At the thought, the anger rising inside of him became -a feeling of cold. - -"I want--" - -Another squatting Martian rose. "I'll take his coat," the second one -announced. - -A third was rising. "Me for his breeks!" - -They were going to disrobe him, strip him naked, for the sake of his -clothes. Ronson did not in the least doubt that they would do it, -or try to do it. The only law protecting humans on this planet was -what they could make up as individuals and enforce for themselves. He -reached for the gun in the side pocket of the _dothar_ skin coat. - -The Martian who had taken his hat reached out and grabbed his arm. The -fellow had steel claws for hands instead of flesh and blood. The claws -clamped over Ronson's arm with a paralyzing grip that seemed to squeeze -the very nerves in their sheaths. - -Ronson slugged with his left fist, very hard and very fast, a blow that -landed flush on the jaw of the Martian. The fellow blinked but was -not damaged. He grinned. "Ho! Human wants to fight!" He seemed to find -satisfaction in the idea. He reached out with his other hand, grasping -for Ronson's neck this time. - -Ronson had not been in a rough and tumble fight since he was a kid -but he discovered that he had not forgotten how to bring up his knee -and jab his antagonist in the stomach. Only this time it didn't work. -The Martian brought down an elbow and deflected the rising leg. His -groping fingers found Ronson's neck, closed there with a grip that was -as tight as the grip around the human's right arm. The other Martians -drew closer. As soon as Te Hold had subdued this alien, they intended -to have his clothes right down to the skin. Maybe they would take the -skin too, if they could find any value in it. They were so engrossed in -watching Te Hold tame this human that they did not notice the door of -the joint open behind them. Nor did they see the girl come out. - -She was not in the least surprised at the fight in the street, nor -was she in any doubt as to what to do about it. In her hand, she had -a spring gun, one of those little weapons that are spring powered and -which throw steel needles coated with the extremely powerful synthetic -narcotic, thormoline. Hardly seeming to take aim, she shot the Martian -who was holding Ronson in the back. Te Hold jumped as the needle stung -him but he did not let go of Ronson. The spring gun pinged again as the -girl put another needle in his back. - -Te Hold jumped again. He released his grip on Ronson's throat. The -human gulped air, and slugged Te Hold again, harder this time. The -fast-acting narcotic was already taking effect. Te Hold went over like -a falling tree. - -Jim Ronson snatched the zen gun from his pocket, then saw that he did -not need it. The girl had been busy with the needle weapon. Two of the -Martians were also down and the rest were in full flight, except the -leper, who had not moved. Standing in front of the door, the girl was -calmly shooting needles at their legs as they ran. - -Not until then did Ronson really see the girl. He blinked startled -eyes at her. Human women were rare on Mars, here in this place near -the south pole they should not exist at all. No woman in her right -mind would come here. But one was here, and a darned attractive one at -that. She was tall, lithe, and full breasted. The hair peeping out from -under the tight fitting-helmet was a shade of red. If she had a fault -in her figure, it was the fact that her hips were too narrow--she was -as slender as a boy--but Ronson was not inclined to criticize her for -that. Not when she had just saved his clothes and maybe his life. - -As the last Martian dodged around the corner, she turned her attention -to him. A smile lit her face. - -"Dr. Ronson! A privilege to meet you, sir." Hand outstretched, smiling, -she moved around the victims of her needle gun and came toward him. - -Ronson stared at her in bewildered consternation. He had not thought -that anyone on Mars would even know his name, he had not wanted -anyone to know his identity. Especially not in this place. He barely -remembered his manners in time to take the hand offered him. - -"I'm Jennie Ware," the girl said. - -"It's nice to meet you, Miss Ware." Where had he heard or seen this -name before? "I want--ah--to thank you for helping me out of a spot." - -"It was nothing," she said smiling. "Always glad to help my fellow men." - -"You certainly went into action fast." He glanced at Te Hold, sleeping -in the street. On the sidewalk near the corner, another Martian was -taking a nap. Only the leper was still in sight and awake. - -"I had these needles coated with a special narcotic designed to affect -the Martian nervous system. As to my going into action fast, I've -discovered that you have to be firm with these Martians," she answered -smiling. - -Stooping, he retrieved his hat. "How did you know me?" - -A little flicker of amusement showed in her eyes. "Why shouldn't I -recognize Earth's foremost bio-physicist and leading authority on -cellular structure? Come on in. I'll buy you a drink. You'll love this -place. They've even got a waiter who thinks he can speak English." - -"Thanks," Ronson said. "I'll take you up on that." He was astonished -and bewildered by this woman. He had spent most of his life in -the laboratories of Earth. The women who had been there had been -flat-breasted, pale creatures in low-heeled shoes who had called him -"Sir," and "Doctor," and who had obviously been greatly in awe of -him but who had apparently never had a red-blooded thought in their -lives. He had regarded them as a sort of neuter sex, creatures who had -obviously been intended by nature to be female but who had gotten their -hormones mixed up somewhere along the line. This girl was different. - -Her name, somehow, had a haunting familiarity, as if he had heard it -somewhere before. But he couldn't remember where. - -She went through the door ahead of him. As Ronson passed through, a -Martian thrust his head around the corner outside and threw a knife. -The steel blade buried in the door facing within six inches of the -human's head. He hastily ducked through the door. - -Looking annoyed, the girl started back to the street outside. "I'll fix -him," she said, pulling the needle gun. - -Ronson caught her shoulder. "Let well enough alone," he said firmly. -"Anyhow you were going to buy me a drink." - -Her eyes held a curious mixture of annoyance, defiance, and longing. -Her gaze went down to his hand on her shoulder. Ronson grinned at her. -"You look as if you are about to bite me," he said. "Go ahead, if you -want to." He did not move his hand. - -Wonder came into her face. "A great many men have tried to paw me, -without getting very far. But somehow, I don't think you're trying to -do that." - -"About that drink?" Ronson said. - -"Sure." She moved toward a table set against the far wall. - -Ronson dared to breathe again. Whatever else this girl was, she was -certainly full of fight and fury. She could have gone out into the -street, in the face of thrown knives, if he hadn't stopped her. As she -moved toward the table, he had a chance to look at the place in which -he found himself. - -What he saw was not reassuring. Except for a big circle in the center -of the room, the place was crammed with Martian males of all sizes and -descriptions. Waiters scurried through the crowd. The circle on the -floor was outlined in red. No customer and no Martian ventured within -it. Ronson glanced at it, asked the girl a question. - -"I just got here too," she said. "I haven't had time to find out about -it. Some superstition of theirs, I think." She led him to the table. -Two glasses were already on it. A waiter appeared out of nowhere. "This -is the one who speaks English. Talk to the gentleman, Tocko." - -"Oh, yessen, missen. Me talken ze English and but very gooden. Me -learnen ze human talken at Mars Porten. Don't I talk him gooden?" The -last was directed at Ronson. - -"You speak him very wonderfullen," Ronson answered. The waiter beamed. - -"Bring the gentleman a mariwaukee," the girl said. - -"Oh, yessen, missen." - -"On second thought, make it a double shot," the girl said. "The -gentleman looks like he needs it." She nodded brightly to Ronson as if -she had selected the very medicine he needed. "Now tell me what you are -doing on Mars, Dr. Ronson?" - -Ronson glanced hastily at the waiter, to make certain that he was out -of earshot. "I--I came here on a vacation," he said firmly and loudly. -"I've wanted to see Mars ever since I was a kid. Who--ah--was sitting -here with you before I came?" - -"A man," she answered. "He went to the little boy's room just before -you got into trouble in the street. I guess he's still there, if some -Martian hasn't slit his throat. Are you enjoying your vacation?" - -"Of course." - -"Do you mind if I call you Jim?" She smiled at him. - -"I would be very pleased." - -"Good. You can call me Jennie." - -"Thanks." - -"Then you are enjoying your vacation." Her smile was very sweet. "Are -you also enjoying trying to lie to me--Jim?" - -Ronson caught his start of surprise. Jennie Ware bewildered him but -this was a game that two could play. "Of course I'm enjoying it. Lying -to a woman as beautiful as you are is always a pleasure--Jennie." He -grinned at her and watched the anger come up on her face. Why should -she be angry? - -The anger was gone as swiftly as it had come. She leaned across the -table, put her hand on his. "I like you Jim. I really do. And not -because you called me a beautiful woman but because you kicked me in -the teeth with my own act. I had it coming and you gave it to me very -neatly." - -The touch of her hand was very pleasant. "No hard feelings. -What--ah--are you doing here, Jennie?" - -She smiled sweetly at him. "I'm on a vacation too, Jim." - -"Touche!" The females in the laboratories back on earth had never -touched his hand or called him by his first name. He wondered about the -man with whom she had been drinking. Also he was very uneasy about her -real reason for being here. No woman with good sense would make the -rough rocket trip to Mars for a vacation; presuming she did come to -Mars, she would not willingly come to this place. But Jennie Ware was -here, an enigma wrapped up in a beautiful smile. He took his eyes off -her long enough to look around the place again. - -In Mars Port, he had seen the native dives, but Mars Port had nothing -like this. To the natives, this was a place of pleasure, filled with -sights, sounds, and smells that made them happy. Over against the -farther wall a tribal chieftan was absorbing _narseeth_ through -the skin of his hands, thrusting them again and again into the sirupy, -smoky-colored mixture in the bowl in front of him. Every so often -he stopped, whereupon the Martian female with him carefully dried -his hands. After they were dry, he made fumbling passes at her. She -accepted the passes without resistance. Ronson stared at the sight. - -"Relax. You'll get used to it," Jennie Ware said. - -At another table a huge Martian was sitting. Two others were with him. -One sat facing the rear, the other faced the front. Ronson had the -impression of two alert dogs guarding their master. A little chill -passed through him at the thought. - -Odors were in the place, of sweat dried into _dothar_ skin -garments, of stale drinks. Dim but distinct was the all-pervading -clinging, cloying odor of _tamil_, the Martian equivalent of musk. -Through an opening at the right, Ronson could see females lounging at -ease in what was apparently a reception room to a brothel. - -Unease came up in him again. How could this place be the way to Les Ro? -But the rumors he had picked up and carefully checked in Mars Port had -all been in agreement, if you wanted to see Les Ro, you came here. What -happened after that was obviously fate. - -Watching, Ronson saw that no Martian entered the circle on the floor. - -He nodded toward the Martian females. "What do you think of this?" - -"Oh, a girl has to live," she said, shrugging. "What do you think?" - -"Oh, a Martian has to have fun, I suppose." His shrug was as -indifferent as hers had been. For an instant, he thought she was going -to spit at him. - -The waiter arrived with the drink. - -"I have putten you on ze listen," he said, confidentially, to Ronson. - -"On the _listen_?" - -"He means _list_," Jennie Ware said. - -"What list?" Ronson asked. - -"On ze listen of zozen waiten to see ze great Les Ro," the waiter -answered. - -Inside of him, Ronson felt cold come up. Strictly on his own, he had to -decide how he was going to handle this. He made up his mind on impulse. -"Who the devil is Les Ro?" - -Across the table, Jennie Ware lifted startled eyes toward Ronson. The -waiter's face showed astonishment, then embarrassment, at the idea that -anyone existed who had not heard of Les Ro, Ronson thought. "You do not -knowen ze great Les Ro. He is ze greatest zinker, ze greatest doer, ze -greatest--" - -"Stinker?" Jennie Ware said. "That sounds about right." - -"You are maken ze kidden wiz me," the waiter said, indignation in his -voice. "You have hearden of ze great Les Ro. You came here to see him. -You musten haven. Everybody who comes here, comes to see him." The -waiter spoke with authority. - -"I'm sorry," Ronson said. "If he is that important, I would like to -talk to him, of course. But do you mean all of these Martians are -waiting to see him?" A wave of his hand indicated the group in the room. - -The waiter, mollified, leered at Ronson. "Ze girls didn't. Ze girls -come here for anuzzer purpose." The leering gesture included Jennie -Ware in it. It said that obviously she had come here for the same -purpose. What other purpose was there? - -The girl gasped. Fire shot from her eyes. "I'll have you know--" - -"Shut up," Ronson said. - -Fire flashed at him. "Hasn't it occurred to you that you are in danger -of getting your pretty little throat slit if you talk out of turn -here?" Ronson whispered. - -"Even ze noffers outside are on ze listen," the waiter added. - -"What about me? Am I on it?" Jennie asked. - -The waiter showed great astonishment. "But of course not. You are a -female." - -"What difference does that make?" This time the fire really shot from -her eyes. - -"How long do you have to wait after you're on the listen?" Ronson -hastily asked. - -The waiter spread his hands and twisted his shoulders. "Who knows? -Some of ze noffers outside have been waiting since last wind time--" - -"Almost an Earth year," Ronson said, calculating rapidly. Once during -each circle of the sun the great winds blew across Mars. This was -the biggest natural event on the planet. Since it occurred with the -regularity of clock work, it served as the starting point for their -year. - -"Sometimes ze great Les Ro call you right away," the waiter said. - -"How will I know if I'm called?" Ronson said. - -A shudder passed over the waiter. "You vill know. Of a most certain, -you vill know. Ze Messenger vill call." The shudder came again. As if -he had already said too much, the waiter hurried away. Ronson turned -back to Jennie Ware. She was sparkling with fury. - -"If they think they're going to keep me from seeing Les Ro just because -I'm a woman--" - -"Why do you want to see him? He probably isn't pretty." - -"Because I want to write a book about him." - -"A book--" Ronson's memory suddenly came alive and he remembered where -he had seen her name before. He stared at her, startled and almost -aghast. Back on Earth, this woman was almost a legend. Every tabloid -and every Sunday supplement had carried her picture and stories about -her. The programs beamed to space had carried tales of her exploits. -She had explored the depths of the Venusian jungles, she had ridden -a _dothar_ across half of Mars. When Deep Space Flight One had -blasted off from Pluto, bound for the exploration of deep space, -the news telecasts back to Earth had carried the information that a -stowaway had been discovered and ejected from the ship just before -blast off. No one had been surprised when this stowaway had turned -out to be Jennie Ware. Subsequent rumors had whispered that she had -practically torn Pluto Dome apart because she had been ejected from the -ship. Even the fact that the ship had never returned had not cooled her -anger. - -In addition, she was also a very competent author. Ronson had read two -of her books and had admired her deft touch with words and the deep -sincerity that had showed through in even the most hard-boiled and -raucous passages. Unquestionably Jennie Ware was a very unusual human -being. - -But in spite of this, Ronson stared at her in growing horror. Her -reputation across the solar system was that of an uninhibited vixen. -Here in this place, where their lives might ride on the blinking of -an eye-lash, or on not blinking it, a temper tantrum thrown by Jennie -Ware--or by anybody else--was the last thing he wanted to see. - -A tall figure loomed beside the table. A deep voice asked, laughingly, -"Well, Jim, since you've already met our lady authoress, how do you -like her?" - -Ronson looked up, then got up, his hand going out, a grin spurting to -his face. The man standing there, Sam Crick, took the outstretched hand -and grinned back at him. - -Crick was tall and lean. His skin was tanned a deep brown, a color that -had resulted from facing all the winds that had ever blown on Mars and -all the sun that had ever shown there. Crick was something of a legend -on the Red Planet. He was the eternal adventurer, the lonely wanderer -of the waste place, the type of human who was always looking for -something that lay just over the edge of the horizon. - -Jim Ronson and Sam Crick had grown up together as boys on Earth. Ronson -had gone into a laboratory, Crick had hopped a freighter bound for -Mars. Ronson had not seen his old friend in many years, but he had -heard from him and about him. A feeling of deep warmth came up inside -the scientist at the sight of the tanned face grinning at him. - -"Then you did get my space radio?" Ronson said. "I couldn't locate you -in Mars Port and I was never sure." Relief at finding Crick here was a -surging feeling deep within him. With Crick here, he not only had a man -experienced in Martian ways and customs to help him, but what was more -important, he had a friend. - -Crick's face lost its smile. Wrinkles showed on his forehead. "What -space radio, Jim?" - -"The one I sent you, asking you to meet me here. Quit kidding me. If -you didn't get my space radio, how does it happen that you're here? -Don't tell me this is a coincidence." - -Crick shook his head. A doleful expression appeared on his face. "I -sure didn't get it, Jim. As to what I'm doing here, I'm chaperoning our -lady authoress. Meet my boss." He nodded to Jennie Ware. - -Ronson turned startled eyes toward the girl. - -"I caught him flat broke in Mars Port just before you arrived," she -answered. "Since he was broke, I took advantage of him and hired him -as my bodyguard. Not that I would really need a bodyguard, but in case -I fell and broke a leg, he might be handy. But his being here wasn't a -coincidence." - -"Eh?" Ronson said. It was difficult to follow her thinking. She seemed -to say a lot, or nothing, all with the same words, the only difference -being the voice tone she used. If she chose, she had all the gifts of a -man in concealing her true feelings and real opinions. - -Her voice was calm, her face expressionless. "The grapevine in Mars -Port said the Earth's top-flight bio-physicist was coming here, that -old Les Ro was thought to have something that human scientists were all -hotted up about, and that you were coming here to investigate, and to -chisel Les Ro out of a piece of it, if he would stand still for such -treatment." - -Ronson blinked at her. She had delivered a bombshell and she had done -it as if she thought what she said was of no importance: "I'm not -trying to chisel Les Ro or anybody out of anything." His calm matched -her aplomb. - -"That's not the way the grapevine had it." - -"I don't care how the grapevine had it. I know my own motives and my -purpose in coming here." An edge crept into his voice as he realized -one possible result of what she was saying. - -"That may be true. But do the Martians know them?" - -Ronson was silent, his thinking perturbed. - -"So I hired Sam and came here," Jennie Ware continued. "If Les Ro was -big enough to attract you, he was also big enough to provide me with -copy for my next book." - -"So you could find copy for a damned book, you risked my neck!" Ronson -said, his voice hot. - -"I didn't risk it a tenth as much as you're doing, by yelling at the -top of your lungs where half of Mars can hear you. Anyhow, I saved your -clothes and maybe your hide out in front a while ago. Doesn't that -count for something?" - -"Sorry," Ronson said abruptly. "I lost my temper." - -"I'd like to make one point," Crick said. "We've got a mighty hot -collection of thieves, crooks, and killers present in this joint." - -Jennie Ware and Jim Ronson stared at him. - -Crick gestured toward the Martian with the two guards. "That's Tal -Bock. He belongs in the upper lentz country, where he is the leader of -a gang of killers and thieves. The one over there soaking his hands in -smoke is Kus Dorken. He's not any better than Tal Bock." - -"What are they doing here?" the girl asked. - -"I don't know," Crick answered. "Unless maybe they've been listening in -on the grapevine too." - -For a moment, it looked as if Jennie Ware was about to cry. She seemed, -suddenly, to become a small girl who had done something wrong and -was very sorry for it and was trying to find some way to express her -sorrow. Her hand came across the table again, touched Ronson's hand -hesitantly. - -"I'm sorry, Jim, if I got you into trouble. But I knew your reputation. -If you were coming here, something big was here. I--I wanted to be in -on it. I guess all my life I've wanted to be in on something big. If I -actually got you into trouble, Sam and I are here to help you get out -of it. Isn't that right, Sam?" - -"Right, Jennie." A growl sounded in the tall adventurer's voice. -"Thanks, both of you," Ronson said. He was deeply touched. In spite of -the shell of bravado that she wore, and her sudden spurting anger, he -liked this girl. She might have the reputation of an uninhibited vixen, -but somewhere inside of her was a small girl looking out from awed and -wondering eyes at the vastness of the world. - -"Watch it!" Crick's whisper was shrill and sharp. His eyes were focused -on the ceiling. - -All the sounds of the place, the rattle of glasses, the sharp giggling -of soliciting women, the deep voices of the Martian males, had gone -into sudden and complete silence. Like Crick, they were looking upward. -Ronson followed their gaze to the ceiling. Jennie Ware gave a quick -cry. Glass tinkled and broke as she dropped her drink. - -Jim Ronson did not hear the sound. His entire attention was focused on -what was happening on the ceiling. - -The dive itself had been cut into the side of the cliff. The solid rock -of the ceiling had not been disguised or masked. - -At first glance, Ronson thought his eyes were deceiving him. The solid -stone itself seemed to be in motion. A sort of melting, shifting flow -seemed to be taking place as if the molecules and perhaps even the -atoms themselves were dissolving. - -"That's atomic disintegration, or atomic shifting, under control!" Sam -Crick gasped. - -"It's a mirage," Jennie Ware whispered. "It must be." - -"If it's a mirage, everybody in the place is seeing it," Ronson said. - -There was not a sound in the huge room. The waiters had come to -attention like trained soldiers. The females had abruptly lost all -interest in what they were doing. Out of the corner of his eyes, Ronson -saw one female make a sudden darting movement across the room. One foot -touched the circle on the floor as she ran. She took two more steps -and fell, sagging downward as if every muscle in her body had suddenly -refused to function. She lay on the floor without moving. Not a head -was turned toward her, not a Martian moved to help her. In her action -Ronson saw one reason why the Martians avoided the circle on the floor. -Something was definitely wrong with that circle. Looking at the roof, -he saw the reason. - -The flowing, shifting movement there had formed into a circle the same -size as the circle on the floor and directly above it. Little flickers -of light, like the discharge of high frequency currents, were flowing -between the two circles. Swiftly the flickers of light became an opaque -cylinder of misty flame extending from the ceiling to the floor. - -From the opaque cylinder of light, a Martian stepped. - -Without quite knowing how he knew it, Ronson knew that this was Les -Ro's Messenger. - -The Messenger was old, perhaps as old as the granite mountain above -them, if the network of fine wrinkles on his face were an accurate -indication of his age. With age, calmness and serenity had come to this -Martian. His eyes gave the impression that they had seen everything. -What they had not seen, the brain behind them had imagined. Peace was -in the eyes and on the face, the deep peace that many human saints had -sought and had found. - -"I like him," Jennie Ware whispered. - -The Messenger carried himself with a sureness that was full of meaning. -He glanced around the room. His eyes settled on the three humans at the -table. A sort of a glow appeared on his face, lighting it as if with a -halo. He moved toward them, stopped and stood looking down at them. For -a moment, his face was blank, and even his eyes seemed to be withdrawn. - -"ESP!" Crick whispered. "Guard your thinking." - -The eyes flicked toward Crick, then came to Ronson. The human felt a -touch that was feather-light appear in his brain. It seemed to run like -lightning through the nerve cells. Then it was withdrawn. The smile -came back to the face of the Messenger. - -"Les Ro has waited a long time for one like you, my son. He will see -you." The voice was deep and pleasant. Somewhere in it were tones that -were bell pure. - -Ronson rose to his feet. - -"Watch it!" Crick whispered. "This may not be on the up and up." - -"I came here to see Les Ro." Ronson answered. "I'm not going to back -out now. Which way do I go?" The last was spoken to the Messenger. - -The Martian bowed. The wave of his hand indicated the cylinder of misty -radiance flowing from the ceiling to the floor. "Just step into the -light, my son." - -"Jim!" Jennie's voice had a frantic plea in it. - -"May my friends go with me?" Ronson said. - -The Messenger shook his head. His face said he was very sorry but that -the answer was no. "I have no instructions for them. Only you, my son. -Les Ro has waited very long for someone like you." - -Ronson did not know whether he was pleased or not. But he knew he was -greatly excited. If the rumors had been right, if the grapevine had -reported correctly, something was here in the heart of the Martian -mountain that had never existed before in the solar system--and -perhaps not in the universe. He stepped boldly into the opaque radiance. - -To Jennie Ware and Sam Crick it looked as if he had stepped out of -existence. - -To Jim Ronson, when he stepped into the light, it seemed to him that -millions of tiny hands instantly grasped him. They lifted him upward. -It seemed as if they changed directions, but he could not be sure of -that. The motion stopped. He felt a firm substance under his feet. The -tiny hands released him, the opaque light fell away from him. He was -standing in the center of a circle in a room cut out of solid stone, a -room that had no exit and no entrance except the one under his feet, -the solid stone floor through which the microscopic hands had lifted -him. - -Panic came up in him then and his hand dived for the gun in his coat -pocket. It came away empty. The gun had been removed without his -knowledge on the transit upward. Examination revealed that every bit -of metal had been removed from his pockets. Only his wrist watch had -been left and that apparently because the metal strap around his wrist -had resisted removal. Automatically he pushed the button on the side of -the watch. On the dial the tiny green light glowed. Neither the light -that had lifted him upward nor this room contained lethal radiations. -The sight of the green light made him feel better. But not much. Sweat -appeared on his skin as he waited. Inside his chest, he felt his heart -begin to speed up its beating. - -Light danced in the wall. The stone seemed to dissolve. The Messenger -came through. The wrinkles on the fine face glowed like ivory at the -sight of Ronson. - -"I hope you will forgive me for keeping you waiting. Other--ah--tasks -demanded my attention at the moment." - -"It's quite all right. Finding myself here unexpectedly was a little -hard on my nerves but the chance to see Les Ro will be worth the shock -to my nervous system. I assume this is the way." Ronson moved toward -the light dancing on the wall, then stopped as he saw the Martian was -not following. "What's wrong?" - -The smile was gone from the face of the Messenger. "One must prove -himself worthy of seeing Les Ro." - -"Eh?" A little touch of fear came up in the human. "Worthy?" - -"Also, it would be well to tell me why you want to see Les Ro. I will -carry your request to him." - -"But you said Les Ro wanted to see me, that he had waited a long time -for someone like me. Though how he knows anything about me--" Ronson's -voice went into uneasy silence. Had the grapevine reported his coming -here? Or had Crick's whisper about extra-sensory perception in -operation had some basis in fact? - -"I said Les Ro waited a long time for someone _like_ you." For a -moment hope showed on the wrinkled face. "But not necessarily for you. -You have certain qualities that Les Ro seeks, but until you have proved -that you have other qualities as well--" Sadness replaced the hope. -"Tell me what you seek here?" - -Ronson felt rebellion come up in him. Then he remembered that on Mars -the only law protecting humans was what they could make and enforce -for themselves. "Rumors have reached us on Earth of Les Ro's great -accomplishments. It is our hope that we can share our knowledge, pool -our discoveries. It is our belief that great advances can come from -this sharing--for both humans and Martians." - -Ronson spoke quietly. Only the tone of his voice expressed the very -deep and very real feeling he was putting into words. Yet in the -quietly spoken words his dream was expressed--and the dream of every -real scientist in the history of Earth--of progress, of forward motion, -of leaving behind them a world a little better than the one they had -known. Once this dream had been only for humans. Now it included -Martians too, and every other race within the solar system. - -The Messenger smiled at the words. But under the smile was concern. - -"Do you mean that you humans still face problems that you cannot solve? -But you have made tremendous scientific advances, much greater than we -of Mars have made. Space flight is only one illustration--" - -"Unfortunately, many of our scientific advances have brought more -problems than they have solved." Grimness crept into Ronson's voice -"Before atomic energy was released, it was prophesied that the release -of this energy would solve all the problems of our planet. This was -over two hundred years ago. We are still striving to regain the losses -suffered in the first and second atomic wars." - -"Wars?" The face of the Martian showed amazement. "You humans are -fools." - -"We are trying to stop being fools. Or some of us are. But something -seems to defeat our efforts." - -"Yes." Keen interest showed on the face of the Martian. "Do you have -this problem too? I wonder if it's the same something--" - -"We live in the same universe." - -"Can you state the problem more exactly?" - -"I can give you an illustration of it. At the same time, I will give -you my reason for being here." Ronson took a deep breath, considered -the words he was going to use. "I'm a bio-physicist. This means that -my specialty is the living cell and the changes that can and do take -place in it. We have a name for one of the changes that may take place -there--cancer." - -"A disease." - -"Yes. And a very serious one. Often tied up with radioactivity, it is a -change that takes place in the interior of a living cell." - -"I know--" - -"No less than eight times in the past hundred years, human doctors -have found a cure for this mutation within the cell. Each cure worked, -perfectly, for a time." - -"And then--" - -"Then this something defeated their efforts. A change took place. A new -form of cancer appeared, which did not yield to the treatment that had -been effective previously." Ronson found his breathing was becoming -heavier. - -The Messenger moved up and down the cell, pacing, his right hand -rubbing his chin. "Yes, it is the same something. Les Ro has talked of -it often. It has defeated even him. He calls it _change_. There -seems to be a law in this universe against anything remaining the -same--But why did you come here? Do you seek a new way to cure this -disease called cancer?" - -"Yes. A permanent way. A way that goes behind the law of change." - -"Do you think you could find such a thing here?" - -"Yes. And here I have proof. Detailed reports from human physicians at -Mars Port. In three instances, Martian patients admitted to the human -hospital there were found to be suffering from inoperable cancer. -Each was discharged, as incurable. Within the following two years, -each patient returned to the hospital there, one to have a knife -wound treated, a second to have a broken bone set, a third because of -injuries suffered in an accident. As soon as they were admitted, the -records were checked, and the previous diagnosis of cancer was found. -Each case of cancer had been cured. Each Martian told the same story, -that he had been here, and that Les Ro had cured the disease." - -"And you came here seeking the ninth solution from Les Ro for your -people?" - -"Yes. And for one other reason." - -"Eh?" - -"The cancer I am trying hardest to cure is--here." Very gently, Jim -Ronson rubbed his chest. At the action, and at his thought, his heart -picked up an anxious beat. - -For an instant, the face of the Martian showed blank astonishment. -Compassion followed the astonishment, a flood of it. "My son!" The -voice had pity and understanding and sympathy in it. "Les Ro will see -you." - -"Good!" Relief surged up inside Jim Ronson. He had travelled many a -weary mile for this moment. He had faced frustration and despair. The -best doctors on Earth had told him they could do nothing for him. Now, -here, in the heart of a mountain near the south pole of Mars-- - -"Follow me," the Messenger said. - -The wall swirled in front of him. He stepped into the misty opaqueness -and Ronson followed him. Inside the light, the human felt the millions -of microscopic hands take hold of him. Their touch was gentle and -caressing, softly tender. Suddenly their touch was firm and strong. He -felt them seize his clothing and rip it from his body. Their gentle, -caressing touch was gone. In its place was an almost manic fury. A -scream ripped involuntarily from his throat. - -The scream was flung into complete silence. No echo of it came back to -his ears. - -Blackness beat at him, flowed in over him, flowed through him. The -blackness ransacked every nook and corner of his body. It probed to the -bottom of his soul. - -It swallowed him whole. It dissected his consciousness, tore it to -shreds, then yanked away even the shreds. He seemed to be falling into -a black hole that had no end. - -Ronson did not know how long the blackness lasted. The first sense to -come back was hearing. Somewhere near him he heard a grunt. Then the -sense of feeling came back and he realized he was lying naked on sand. -He didn't much want to open his eyes. Finally he forced them open. His -vision was blurred and vague. When it cleared he saw the source of the -grunt. - -The sound had come from Tal Bock, squatting on the sand near him. Tal -Bock was also naked. Unlike Ronson, the millions of microscopic hands -in the darkness had not left even a wrist watch on the Martian. - -"Happy--ah--wind time," Ronson said. Tal Bock grunted, but did not -answer. - -"Where are we?" - -"Hell," Tal Bock said. He got up and walked into the shrubbery behind -him. - -Ronson rose. He was shaky, his legs seemed too long to reach the sand, -a subjective impression that almost amused him, but didn't quite. To -the left another Martian was squatting cross-legged on the sand. Ronson -looked, then looked again. He moved toward the Martian to make certain. - -It was the leper who had been on the street outside the dive. Without -the rags, the Martian was hardly recognizable. The sores provided a -certain means of identification. There was no mistaking them. - -"How did you get here?" Ronson asked. - -The leper made a weak gesture with his hands which said, "Go away." His -attitude was resigned but about his manner was an air of expectancy. - -Ronson discovered that the place in which he had found himself was a -cavern about half a mile in diameter. It was adequately lighted though -the light sprang from no source that he could detect. The place was -pleasant enough. There was water here. It flowed in little rills set in -stonework. Grass and desert shrubs grew here. The air was moist, with a -fragrant sweetness somewhere about it. - -Something was in the air besides the moisture and the fragrant -sweetness. It was intangible, almost imperceptible. Ronson cocked his -head, trying to catch this something. It was always out of the range of -his sensory perception, an intangible, elusive quality that perplexed -him. - -"Subliminal," he thought. "Maybe super-sonic sound just above the range -of hearing." - -Why super-sonic sound? He did not know. He felt dazed. There was a -heavy feeling through his whole body. Why was he here? He had been told -he would see Les Ro. There was also talk about a man proving if he was -worthy-- - -He did not like this thinking. He tried to shut it off, but it was a -persistent gadfly that returned to buzz again and again in his brain. - -The out-of-hearing sound seemed to buzz with it, slipping in and out -of hearing too fast for the mind to grasp it. Each time it slipped -into hearing for the fractional part of a second, it brought a flick -of agony with it. At the touch, he became almost giddy. Alarm bells -rang suddenly inside his head. The note went out of hearing again, the -giddiness passed, the alarm bells went into silence. - -In the shrubbery ahead of him, a figure moved--Kus Dorken. - -Two of the worst killers on Mars were here in this place. A leper. A -human. Unease came up inside Jim Ronson, a sharp stab of it. Inside his -chest a surge of pain broke through the barriers he had erected around -it, reminding him of what was there. - -He had come here seeking relief for that surge of pain. Instead of -getting what he had asked for, he had been thrust into place. With two -killers and a leper and--A shout broke into his thinking. A Martian -was running along the walls, seeking for an exit. It was Te Hold. -Te Hold had recovered from the effect of the thormoline and had been -brought here. Ronson watched the Martian run along the walls, searching -desperately for a way out. Te Hold screamed as he ran but he didn't -find an exit. The screams died out as he reached the far end of the -oval, then grew stronger as he came back again upon his own steps. - -Kus Dorken slid out of sight. Tal Bock was somewhere in that shrubbery -too, where, Ronson didn't know. And didn't care. A feeling of -hopelessness was coming up in him. He moved back to the leper, squatted -on the sand beside the man, asked a question. - -The leper's eyes flicked at him in response but there was no other -answer. An ecstacy was in the eyes now. The leper was so lost in this -ecstacy that such things as grunted noises from a member of an alien -race made no impression on him. Ronson envied him. The leper was close -to death but he was so lost in some inner ecstacy that death was -unimportant to him. - -"Did Les Ro's Messenger promise you that you would be cured of your -leprosy?" Ronson asked, persisting. - -The leper nodded. Again his hand waved in the "Go away," gesture. - -"Go away and let you die in peace?" Ronson said. - -"Just go away," the leper answered. - -Ronson rose to his feet, angry. What farce was being perpetrated here? -What--The super-sonic note came into hearing. Pain stabbed at his chest. - -He lifted his hand involuntarily. The sight of the dial on his wrist -watch forced itself through the pulses of pain. - -As a part of his research into cell structure, Ronson had worked -extensively with radioactivity. In order to protect himself, he had had -a microscopically small radiation detector built into the watch itself. -Three tiny glow tubes were set into the dial. If the green tube glowed, -radiation was present but was safe. If the amber light glowed, be wary. -If the red light glowed, _get out fast_! - -The red light was glowing now. As Ronson stared, it winked out. Before -he could take his eyes away from the dial, the red light flicked on -again. The super-sonic note came with it. A flick of very real pain -came with the note. The red light flicked out, the note vanished. The -pain was gone. - -"Regular pulsations of radiation are being poured through this place!" -Ronson whispered. - -It was being done deliberately. The whole cavern was being flooded -periodically with bursts of radiation. This meant deliberate intention, -purpose, plan. He did not know what impact this radiation might have -on Martian flesh but he could guess the effect it might have on human -tissue. - -Fear came up in him, a flood of it. Anger followed it. The lights on -his watch danced. Pain, agony, and the shrill note of the super-sonic -came again. Grimly, he began to prowl the cavern, searching for the -source of the radiations. The radiation counter in his watch led him to -it, by the increased intensity of its glow. The radiations were coming -from a single spot in the wall of the cavern. So far as he could tell, -the wall was solid stone at this place, but he had seen solid stone -walls dissolve in this madhouse. Behind this spot there was intelligent -direction of the bursts of radiation. - -Back there Les Ro, or someone with him, was playing games of life and -death with-- - -Te Hold came past him, screaming. The Martian was beginning to stumble -as he ran. The screams were only gasping sounds in his throat. - -Voices rose in shouted argument somewhere in the shrubbery. Ronson -moved away. - -"What's going on there?" he asked the leper. - -"Tal Bock--and Kus Dorken--have disagreed--as to which is the bigger -killer--and therefore which is the more worthy. They fight--to decide -the problem." - -The words were quietly spoken. The tone said the matter was of no -importance. After he had finished speaking, the leper's eyes went -back to the inner ecstacy that he seemed to be watching. Or was it -_future_ ecstacy that he was imagining? - -"I hope there is a heaven for Martians," Ronson said. So far as he -knew, only in heaven could this leper's health be restored. Was the -same true for him? - -Voices screamed in the shrubbery. Giving ground before the heavy blows -Tal Bock was striking at him, Kus Dorken came stumbling backward. He -slipped in the sand and fell heavily. Tal Bock leaped at him. Kus -Dorken screamed once, a sound that gasped into silence as Tal Bock's -fingers closed over his throat. For a time, they threshed in the sand. -Then Kus Dorken went limp. Viciously Tal Bock slapped his foe across -the face. When there was no response, he poured sand into Kus Dorken's -mouth, scooping it up in handfuls and cramming it down his foe's gullet. - -Tal Bock got to his feet. The scream that ripped from his lips was pure -triumph. Utterly naked, he stood beside the body of his victim, shaking -his fist at the roof of the cavern, screaming defiance at the universe. - -Ronson fervidly hoped that the radiation flowing through the Martian -would strike him dead. The scream went into silence. Tal Bock's gaze -fell on the leper, he moved in that direction. Viciously he kicked the -leper. - -The sick Martian slipped from his squatting position and lay inert. - -Ronson moved forward. With all the strength that he possessed, he hit -Tal Bock behind the ear. As he struck the blow, the super-sonic note -screamed through him. - -Ronson's blow knocked Tal Bock sprawling. Like a gigantic cat, the -Martian came to his feet. - -_Ping!_ - -Tal Bock moved toward Ronson in little short steps. He was like a cat -getting ready to pounce. The grin on his face said he was going to -anticipate destroying this human. - -_Ping!_ - -Tal Bock lost his footing. He fell heavily and tried to rise. A -confused expression was on his face. The effort to rise was more than -he could manage. Collapsing, he lay without moving. - -"Jim! Here! Quick!" The voice came from the shrubbery. His first -thought was that he was hallucinating. Jennie Ware and Sam Crick -could not be there in that shrubbery, fully clothed, Jennie beckoning -frantically to him, Crick with a needle gun in his hand. - -They came to him, on the run. Jennie caught one arm, Crick caught the -other. Supporting him between them, they ran through the shrubbery. -In the opposite wall, a hole showed, an honest opening, not a -light-swirling mirage. Inside it, Crick swung shut a door. A Martian -lay on the floor of the tunnel. - -"How--how did you get here?" Ronson gasped. - -Crick nodded to the Martian on the floor. "We persuaded Tocko to bring -us. He knew a little more about this place than he ever let on. After -he brought us here, we gave him a needle, to keep him quiet while we -rescued you." The tall adventurer grinned as he spoke. - -"Come on, Jim. We know the way out of here. If we get out before they -discover what has happened--" The girl was all frantic motion moving -toward escape. - -"I'm not going," Ronson said. - -"What?" the girl gasped. - -Ronson turned to Crick. "Do you have an extra gun?" - -"Of course. But, Jim--" - -"Lend it to me, will you? I may need it before I'm finished here." - -"Eh?" Crick was startled. - -Ronson explained what he meant. Crick's face grew grim. He took an -extra needle gun out of his coat pocket. "I guess maybe you could use a -little help on this job, Jim. Eh, Jennie?" He glanced at the girl. - -Fear was on her face. She wanted to run, to get away, forever, from -this place of horror. But some things were more important than running. - -"We'll make it a threesome," she said. - -"Good girl!" Ronson spoke. - -A passage circled the oval cavern. With Ronson in the lead, they -followed it until they came to the spot from which the radiations were -being poured into the cavern. Here was a large room. The passage led -directly into it. - -Inside the room was a tremendous array of complex electrical apparatus. -Ronson had never seen anything as good as this in even the best -laboratories back on Earth. He could not even guess the purpose of -most of the equipment, it had been designed by a Martian mind and -constructed by Martian hands--with a Martian goal in view. - -Set in the middle of the room were the control panels of the equipment. -Directly above the panels was a smoky visio screen that revealed dimly -what was happening in the cavern. Just rising from his place at the -controls was--the Messenger. - -He looked up and into the muzzle of the needle gun Ronson was holding. -A tiny startled reaction played across his poised face, disturbing the -many wrinkles there, then was gone. A smile replaced it. - -"Ah, yes. I had just discovered you were missing and I was starting to -look for you." - -Behind him, Ronson heard Jennie Ware catch her breath. He knew she was -thinking that they should have run while they had the chance. - -"We saved you the trouble, Les Ro," Ronson said. - -The startled reaction was more pronounced this time. "You guessed?" - -"That Les Ro and his Messenger were one and the same? It was obvious -when you did not need to communicate what I had said to Les Ro. How -many others are here with you?" - -The question was important. Their own survival depended on the number -of Martians here. - -The startled reaction was very real this time. "No one else is here?" - -"You are alone!" - -"I am alone. Many times I have longed--" - -"Watch him Jim." Crick whispered. "This doesn't smell right to me." - -"Do you mean to tell me that you alone built this apparatus?" Ronson -gestured toward the array of equipment in the room. - -"This? This is only a part. It was a long task. Many weary years I have -spent here--" - -"He's telling the truth, Jim," Jennie Ware whispered. - -"But one pair of hands, to build all of this." Shock was in Ronson, -perhaps even greater shock than he had experienced in the cavern. He -stared at Les Ro. Respect was in him and admiration, if not liking. -"Then you are indeed a genius. The rumors were partly right, after all." - -"Thank you." - -"But why couldn't you get someone to help you?" - -Sadness showed on Les Ro's face. "You have seen the people in the -drinking room below. Which of them could understand how an electron -circles in its orbit? Many times I have tried to train the brightest of -them. The result was inevitable failure. That is why, when you came--" -Longing came into Les Ro's eyes. - -"Watch him, Jim," Crick whispered. - -"I know it doesn't track," Ronson said. His voice grew grim and hard. -Bitterness boiled in it. He was facing his own frustration here, in -the failure of his deep hopes in coming to this place. A touch of pain -moving through his chest told him what that failure meant to him. He -gestured toward the cavern. "Out there I saw Martians destroying each -other. In this, they were wiser than they knew. The ones who died -quickly were lucky. The choice was between a quick death and slow, -horrible death from the radiation pouring through that place." - -Pain and consternation showed on Les Ro's face. He seemed to hear only -Ronson's last words. "How did you detect the radiation?" - -"With this." Ronson nodded toward his watch. - -"This is wonderful. You humans actually have a reliable method of -detecting radiation! I have striven so hard to build such a device. -Let me see it." He moved toward Ronson as if nothing else were of any -importance in comparison to the detector. - -"Stand back. Kus Dorken and Te Hold and the leper would not have -thought the radiation pouring through them was wonderful, if they had -known about it. Nor will Tal Bock, before he dies." - -Real pain darkened the fine patina of the Martian's face. "Do you -really believe this of me?" - -"I saw it happen," Ronson answered. "I was there. I saw Tal Bock -destroy Kus Dorken--" - -"One moment, please." Les Ro's hand moved among the controls. Ronson's -hand tightened on the trigger. He held off firing. Somewhere a relay -thudded home. Power surged. The wall in the front of the room began to -glow with light. - -"Wait, please! Walt!" - -The leper came first through the swirling mistiness. He walked erect, -his back straight and his head up. The light of eager anticipation was -still in his eyes but something new had been added now--realization. - -"But Tal Bock killed him. I saw it," Ronson whispered. - -"No," Les Ro gently negated. "When Tal Bock attacked him, I put him -into a trance condition, to save him." - -Ronson hardly heard the answer. His eyes were fixed on something else. -"The sores--" The sores were not gone but they had diminished in -size. Replacing the rotten tissue, new flesh had already begun to form. - -"This is what he asked, when he came to me," Les Ro said. "This is what -he got." - -"But this is a miracle." - -Again Les Ro denied the statement. "This is natural law in operation, -though to you the laws may be unknown. Watch." - -The leper would have dropped to his knees and kissed Les Ro's hand, but -the Martian forbade it, sending him to wait elsewhere. - -Te Hold came through the swirling light--a Te Hold who was without -fear. Then, Kus Dorken came. He was still spitting sand out of his -mouth but the bluster and the bravado and the anger were gone from him. -He was a new Kus Dorken. Inside, he had been subtly changed. Flowing -outward, the change showed on his face as a gentle kindliness. - -"He was a killer when I saw him first," Jennie Ware said. "Now--he -looks like a saint." - -Les Ro smiled at her. "He will be a saint, from now on. He knows how -to be one, now. As to Tal Bock, he has not yet recovered from your -needles. When he does recover, he will come out of the cavern a saint -too." - -"But why didn't you tell me about this?" Ronson whispered. "Why did -you just thrust me, and presumably the others too, in there without -warning. Why didn't you tell us?" - -"To have told you, might have defeated my purpose, or prolonged its -achievement. I put all who come to me in the cavern. There, the killer -will try to kill, the coward will run, the brave man will fight. As -the killer tries to kill, he will use the reaction patterns he has -known all his life. As he uses them, I throw bursts of energy at him. -I disconnect the kill patterns. The energy penetrates right down to -the levels of the cells, and even goes lower than that, changing old -patterns--" - -"New lamps for old," the girl whispered. - -Ronson was silent. His thinking was perturbed, almost bewildered. What -Les Ro had said made sense. Reaction patterns had to change down to -and through the cellular level. If the patterns were struck by bursts -of radiant energy--but this was the method nature used! This was the -method of the _something_ they had sought but which had always -eluded them. The change in the cells that was called cancer--again pain -flicked through his chest--more often than not this change was brought -about by radiant energy operating on cellular structure! Les Ro had -organized this something, this wild talent of nature, and was making it -do useful work. - -"But it did not work for me," Ronson protested. - -"Human cellular structure and Martian cellular structure are -different," Les Ro answered. "This is the first opportunity I have had -to work with humans. More time is needed to produce the changes in -them. That is all." A beatific smile lit the face of the old Martian. -It went slowly away as his eyes came to focus on the girl. Ronson -turned, gasped when he saw what she was doing. - -She was stripping herself. Without embarrassment and shame, she took -off her clothes. She stood before them, naked. - -"A human woman!" Les Ro said. - -"Outside, I'm a woman," Jennie Ware answered. "But inside I've got more -of the organization of a man than a woman. The result has been that -all my life there's been a fight within me. Instead of being a woman, -I have only succeeded in being a bitch, all jangle of nerves, always -trying to do what the men did, but knowing I really couldn't, because -I was a woman. I'm tired of this. I'm sick and tired of it!" Her voice -grew frantic for a moment. Then she was calm again. - -"I want to be a woman. Do you think that if I went in there--" she -gestured toward the cavern, "that you could help me be a--woman?" The -appeal in her eyes and in her voice begged for one answer. - -"I have never worked with a human woman--" - -"Then use me as a guinea pig!" As if the answer were predetermined, her -chin up, with not a look behind her, she moved through the misty light -and out of sight--like Eve stepping into the Garden of Eden in the dawn -of a new world. - -Les Ro's hands moved over the switches. - -Jim Ronson dropped the needle gun. For a split second, he hesitated. -Then he walked toward the swirling light. - -Les Ro's voice stopped him. "When you are cured, my son, when you are -finished in there, come back, and we will work together on the problems -of your world and mine. This I have dreamed of since the first day I -began work here, that someone with sufficient intelligence might come -to work beside me." - -Ronson smiled, nodded. As he stepped into the mistiness, Les Ro's face -beamed at him, enhaloed, like a saint. - -The girl was wandering through the shrubbery. She seemed not to see him -but when he came into step beside her, she looked up and smiled. Arm in -arm, they walked together, in a place that had been hell, but was now -heaven, waiting for the miracle to take place within them. And little -by little, in minute bursts of spurting quanta, Jim Ronson felt the -pain in his chest go away. - -The girl beside him was no longer the bitter harriden who had almost -turned Pluto Dome upside down when she had been ejected from a space -ship that never returned. She was no longer the unhappy roamer who had -wandered the paths of the planets, defying all creation and herself. -She was becoming something else--a woman. The fact showed in the -gentleness of her smile. - -His arm went around her and she came closer without hesitation. A glow -came up inside of both them, and grew stronger. - - -THE END - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of New Lamps, by Robert Moore Williams - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW LAMPS *** - -***** This file should be named 52009.txt or 52009.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/0/0/52009/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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